Epidemiology and survival of Fusarium mangiferae, the causal agent of mango malformation disease.
Freeman S., Klein-Gueta D., Korolev N., Sztejnberg A.
Author Affiliation: Dept. of Plant Pathology, ARO, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel.
: 487-491
Abstract : Ten F. mangiferae isolates were cultured on potato dextrose agar containing chloramphenicol. Conidia were mixed with soil and incubated at 25°C. Conidial presence and survival in flowers, fruitlets and mature fruits were assessed. Decline in survival rate was very rapid for all 10 F. mangiferae isolates including the NitM mutant isolate. Within 102 days, under controlled conditions, survival declined to zero compared to the control, while less than 40% population survival was recorded after 28 days. During summer, survival in soil declined even more rapidly by 100-fold after 28 days, while only 10-fold colony forming units were detected during winter. The NitM mutant isolate declined at similar rates compared to the wild-type 135A. Wild-type 135A and NitM mutant isolates colonized the roots and were detected throughout the experiment. The pathogen remained viable for at least 180 days with colonization of 80.0 and 46.6%, respectively, for each isolate. The fungi were detected in stem sections, 15 months after inoculation, at 50-cm distance from the crowns. All flowers and fruitlets from diseased panicles were 100% infected, whether surface disinfected or not. F. mangiferae was not detected in comparable flowers and fruitlets from healthy trees. The pathogen was not detected within the seed or on seed coats, or in the flesh of any diseased fruit.