Colletotrichum acutatum and Colletotrichum nymphaeae causing blossom blight and fruit anthracnose on olives in southern Brazil

Olive Anthracnose in Portugal Is Still Mostly Caused by Colletotrichum nymphaeae, but C. acutatum Is Spreading and C. alienum and C. cigarro Are Reported for the First Time

“…By then, it was shown that C. nymphaeae was even more frequent in years with a higher disease incidence (probably due to its high virulence), and the lower frequency of isolation of C. nymphaeae in the present study may be related to the low disease incidence in 2018 and 2019. Colletotrichum nymphaeae associated with olive anthracnose is mostly restricted to southwestern Iberia [11,14,62,63], but has more recently been reported in northeastern Italy [21], Uruguay [23], and Brazil [64]. As one of the most virulent olive anthracnose pathogens [15], C. nymphaeae may become more impactful in the future and continue its spread to other olive-growing regions, as well as to other crops.…”

“…40 host species, this species seemed to be restricted to Oceania and Africa, and only recently expanded to the Mediterranean region on several other tree crops (almond, chestnut, citrus, and pomegranate) [65]. More recently, it expanded into the American continent, where it became the prevalent olive anthracnose pathogen in Uruguay [23] and also appeared associated with olive blossom blight and olive anthracnose in Brazil [64]. Given the rapid geographic expansion of C. acutatum, it is likely that it will become more important in the near future, not only as an olive anthracnose pathogen, but also as a pathogen of other crops.…”

Colletotrichum infections during flower development and fruit ripening in four olive cultivars

“…Anthracnose is an important olive disease in olive-growing regions (Cacciola et al, 2012;Moral et al, 2014;Talhinhas et al, 2018;Azevedo-Nogueira et al, 2020), especially in those with humid climates such as South Africa (Gorter, 1956), Australia (Sergeeva et al, 2008), Brazil (Filoda et al, 2021) and Uruguay (Moreira et al, 2021). Eighteen Colletotrichum species of the species complexes C. acutatum, C. gloeosporioides and C. boninense have been reported to be associated with this disease (Talhinhas et al, 2011;Schena et al, 2014;Chattaoui et al, 2016;Moral et al, 2017;Talhinhas et al, 2018;Moreira et al, 2021).…”

“…Infections can also occur from flowering to fruit ripening. During bloom, species of Colletotrichum can infect host plant calices, petals, stamens, and pistils causing flower collapse known as blossom blight Talhinhas et al, 2018;Filoda et al, 2021;Moreira et al, 2021). Each infected flower is usually covered with an orange gelatinous mass of Colletotrichum conidia (Sergeeva et al, 2008;Moreira et al, 2021).…”