Cultivation of sugarcane for the production of sugar and alcohol is of outstanding economic importance for Brazil, being the largest producer of this crop worldwide (CONAB, 2019). Red rot is one of the main diseases of sugarcane, first reported in 1893 in Java and Indonesia, and is still a major problem in countries like India, Indonesia, and Pakistan (Kumar et al., 2010;Malathi et al., 2011). The aetiological agent of this disease is known as Colletotrichum falcatum, a member of the Colletotrichum graminicola species complex (CGSC), which contains several important grass pathogens Crouch et al., 2006).C. falcatum can infect the plant through natural openings and injuries caused by improper handling of the blades during planting, or by the sugarcane borer, Diatrea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), leading to the borer-rot disease complex (Peñaflor & Bento, 2019;Viswanathan & Samiyappan, 2000). Plants show characteristic symptoms of discolouration, drying, and reddish spots on the leaves,