First report of Pseudomonas oryzihabitanscausing fruit black rot in prickly ash in China

Since the summer of 2017, bacterial fruit black rot disease was observed on prickly ash (Zanthoxylum armatumDC., Yongqing No. 1) in three counties (Yongshan, Qiaojia and Ludian) of Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, that kills the fruit, results in significant yield reduction, severely affects quality of fruit and even worst has no harvest. A combination of cultural, biochemical and physiological characterizations, Biolog analyses, MALDI-TOF MS analyses, multi-locus phylogenetic analyses and pathogenicity assays revealed that Pseudomonas oryzihabitanswas the pathogen associated with the fruit black rot. The pathogenicity was verified with Koch’s postulates. To our knowledge, this study provides the first report of fruit black rot caused by P. oryzihabitanson prickly ash.