First Report of <i>Pseudopestalotiopsis theae</i> Causing <i>Aloe vera</i> Leaf Spot Disease in Bangladesh

Abstract

Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f. is one of the important medicinal plants, has been commercially cultivated in the Northern part of Bangladesh. An experiment was conducted to detect A. vera leaf disease collected from Natore district, Bangladesh. Fungal leaf spot disease caused by Pseudopestalotiopsis theae (Sawada) Maharachch., K.D. Hyde & Crous was identified through morphological features and sequencing of internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA. After submitting nucleotide sequences to NCBI, we received an accession number MH333081.1: Pseudopestalotiopsis theae. The growth pattern of the isolated fungal pathogen was evaluated on different solid culture media, at different temperature and light conditions. The results showed the maximum mycelial growth of the fungus on the Richard Agar medium under the complete dark condition at 25˚C. We evaluated fungal antagonists against the isolated pathogenic fungus, in which Trichoderma asperellum showed optimistic results. Synthetic fungicides-Tilt 250EC and Ridomil Gold completely inhibited the studied fungus's vegetative growth. Pseudopestalotiopsis theae causing A. vera leaf spot disease in Bangladesh is a new record to the best of our knowledge.