Management, Survival Strategies, and Host Range of Colletotrichum acutatum on Strawberry

Abstract

<jats:p> <jats:italic>Colletotrichum</jats:italic> spp. are broad-range pathogens, meaning that many species can infect a single host and a single species can infect diverse hosts. For example, <jats:italic>Colletotrichum acutatum</jats:italic> J.H. Simmonds affects a wide range of crops, causing disease symptoms on apple, almond, anemone, citrus, lupin, peach, pecan, strawberry, and others, whereas <jats:italic>Colletotrichum gloeosporioides</jats:italic> Penz. (Penz. &amp; Sacc.) can affect many of the previous hosts as well. Anthracnose is one of the major fungal diseases of strawberry occurring worldwide. In Israel, the disease is caused primarily by the species <jats:italic>C. acutatum</jats:italic>. The pathogen causes irregular leaf spot, bud rot, petiole and stolon necrosis, and black spot on fruit. The pathogen is most destructive when it causes root necrosis and crown rot, which usually kill the plants in nurseries and transplants in the field. To maintain a disease-free crop, nuclear and foundation stock material, as well as field nurseries, must be routinely monitored and tested for presence of the pathogen. Strawberry cultivation using plasticulture as an overhead cover of the crop can significantly control anthracnose disease incidence by reducing inoculum spread and infection, both in nurseries and in production fields. <jats:italic>C. acutatum</jats:italic> from strawberry can survive on several cultivated plant species, such as pepper, eggplant, tomato, bean, and weed species, without causing disease symptoms. This indicated that they may serve as a potential inoculum reservoir for strawberry infection between seasons. Although <jats:italic>C. acutatum</jats:italic> survives in soil under certain conditions, no specific resting structures have been observed indicating that the pathogen does not behave as a typical soilborne fungus.</jats:p>

Most Colletotrichum species associated with tree tomato (Solanum betaceum) and mango (Mangifera indica) crops are not host‐specific

“…However, several species from the C. gloeosporioides species complex can be responsible for anthracnose in these crops. Likewise, Freeman () discussed the host range of several Colletotrichum species that are now known to comprise more than one, sometimes even dozens, of evolutionary different lineages. Despite this, recent studies have reported that strains belonging to the same Colletotrichum species are able to infect different hosts.…”

Grapevine inflorescences are susceptible to the bunch rot pathogens, Greeneria uvicola (bitter rot) and Colletotrichum acutatum (ripe rot)

“…Although the life cycle of G. uvicola on grapevines is believed to involve infection via the pedicel in spring (Longland and Sutton 2008), the importance of flower infections and implications for disease management have not been studied previously. C. acutatum infects both vegetative and reproductive tissues, including the flowers of a wide range of host plants (Freeman 2008;Peres et al 2008), the susceptibility of V. vinifera inflorescences to C. acutatum however has not been documented previously. We demonstrate here that glasshouse-grown (cv Chardonnay) and fieldgrown (cv Shiraz) grapevine inflorescences are susceptible to infection by C. acutatum and G. uvicola.…”

“…While detached fruit of host plants other than grapes have been shown to be susceptible to G. uvicola (Ridings and Clayton 1970), the fungus is not known to cause problems on horticultural plants other than grapes. In contrast C. acutatum has a wide host range causing anthracnose on a range of fruit crops (Freeman 2008;Prusky et al 2000) and flower infection in citrus (Peres et al 2008). The life cycles of both fungi on grapevines have largely been studied in Muscadinia rotundifolia (syn.…”

In vitro Antifungal Activities of Fungicides against Japanese Plum Fruit Anthracnose Fungi

“…1. B) (Freeman et al, 1998;Cao et al, 2017), , , , (Freeman, 2008;Than, 2008;Nam et al, 2014;Lim et al, 2015).…”