Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz.) of litchi fruit (Litchi chinensis Soon.) in Oaxaca, México.

Anthracnose of litchi fruits was characterized by internal and external brown circular lesions with well-defined margins on the pericarp, but not on the aril or seed. Colletotrichum sp., Pestalotiopsis sp., Fusarium sp., and Lasiodiplodia sp. were isolated from symptomatic fruit pericarp samples of cultivars Mauritius and Brewster in 2008-2010 cycles. Colletotrichum sp. (51%) and Pestalotiopsis sp. (17%) were isolated more frequently from symptomatic fruit pericarp samples of cultivar Mauritius in 2009. Colletotrichum sp. was isolated on PDA (39%) and in semi-selective medium (59%) from symptomatic Mauritius fruit pericarp samples in 2010, and from asymptomatic pericarp Brewster samples in 2009 (32%) and 2010 (21%) on PDA and 10% in semiselective medium; however it was not isolated from asymptomatic Mauritius pericarp in neither of the two harvesting years. Only Colletotrichum sp., reproduced the disease in the laboratory (17 out of 20 inoculated fruits) and in the field (19 out of 20 inoculated fruits). The fungus was morphologically and molecularly identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]