| Trachysphaera fructigena | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
| Clade: | SAR |
| Clade: | Stramenopiles |
| Phylum: | Oomycota |
| Order: | Peronosporales |
| Family: | Pythiaceae |
| Genus: | Trachysphaera |
| Species: | T. fructigena |
| Binomial name | |
| Trachysphaera fructigena Tabor & Bunting, (1923) | |
Trachysphaera fructigena is an oomycete affecting bananas and cacao trees. This oomycete is a weak plant pathogen that causes minor diseases in banana, coffee, and cocoa. [1]
Trachysphaera fructigena primarily affects banana (cigar-end rot), coffee, and cocoa but is also associated with Mimusops elengi, M. commersoni, and avocado (Persea americana). It can also infect flowers and wounded fruit of Pyrus, Malus, Prunus, and Citrus species under artificial conditions. [2] [3]
T. fructigena generally causes minor economic damage. On bananas, it is most significant during storage, particularly in West Africa, where it impacts fruit quality, rendering them unsellable. The disease is most severe in old or poorly maintained plantations. On cocoa, T. fructigena contributes to mealy pod rot, accelerating decay in pods damaged by vertebrates, but it is considered a minor component of overall pod diseases. [1] [4]
On bananas, the oomycete causes cigar-end rot, forming ash-grey, wrinkled lesions at the flower end, which can progress to black necrosis and mummification during storage or transport. On cocoa, it infects wounded pods, creating brown spreading lesions with dense, coarse-textured conidial masses that turn pinkish-brown. [2] On Liberica coffee, it is linked to the rot of ripe berries. Symptoms of T. fructigena on fruits are easily identified, making it unlikely for infected fruit to enter trade or spread the pathogen. While distinguishing the pathogens causing cigar-end rot requires expertise, the symptoms of cigar-end rot on banana fruit are distinct and unlikely to be mistaken for other banana fruit rots. [4] Only the fruit and flowers are known to carry the pathogen during trade, while other plant parts are not considered carriers. [1]
This oomycete produces non-septate, coarse hyphae that spread rapidly through intercellular spaces, with smaller branches penetrating host cell walls, killing the cells and discoloring their contents. Once established in host tissues, the oomycete forms conidia. Hyphae accumulate beneath the epidermis, where dense conidiophores form and rupture the epidermal layer. Conidiophores vary, ranging from simple structures with single conidia to complex forms with terminal vesicles and whorls of conidia or lateral fertile branches. The oomycete produces thick-walled conidia in fruit cavities, resembling chlamydospores, though their germination remains unobserved. Regular conidia germinate readily in water or nutrients, forming mycelium and conidia, allowing easy cultivation and infection experiments. Sexual reproduction involves oogonia characterized by irregular sac-like outgrowths and amphigynous antheridia surrounding their stalks. [2] [5]
Cultural practices, such as bagging in bananas and inflorescence binding in plantains, have consistently proven effective in reducing the percentage of infected bunches, even under conditions favorable to disease development. [6] [7] Bagging is also widely implemented to protect fruit quality. Additionally, early-stage deflowering and covering of bunches are recommended to minimize infections by T. fructigena. [6] [8] [9] For chemical control, metalaxyl and aluminium tris-(ethyl) phosphonate have shown efficacy in managing cigar-end rot caused by T. fructigena, while copper fungicide sprays have proven effective for disease control in cocoa. [10]
Botrytis cinerea is a necrotrophic fungus that affects many plant species, although its most notable hosts may be wine grapes. In viticulture, it is commonly known as "botrytis bunch rot"; in horticulture, it is usually called "grey mould" or "gray mold".
Phytophthora palmivora is an oomycete that causes bud-rot of palms, fruit-rot or kole-roga of coconut and areca nut. These are among the most serious diseases caused by fungi and moulds in South India. It occurs almost every year in Malnad, Mysore, North & South Kanara, Malabar and other areas. Similar diseases of palms are also known to occur in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, and Sumatra. The causative organism was first identified as P. palmivora by Edwin John Butler in 1917.
Glomerella graminicola is an economically important crop parasite affecting both wheat and maize where it causes the plant disease Anthracnose Leaf Blight.
Alternaria alternata is a fungus causing leaf spots, rots, and blights on many plant parts, and other diseases. It is an opportunistic pathogen on over 380 host species of plant.
Mycosphaerella coffeicola is a sexually reproducing fungal plant pathogen. It is most commonly referred to as the asexual organism Cercospora coffeicola.
Penicillium expansum is a psychrophilic blue mold that is common throughout the world in soil. It causes Blue Mold of apples, one of the most prevalent and economically damaging post-harvest diseases of apples.
Ceratocystis paradoxa or Black Rot of Pineapple is a plant pathogen that is a fungus, part of the phylum Ascomycota. It is characterized as the teleomorph or sexual reproduction stage of infection. This stage contains ascocarps, or sacs/fruiting bodies, which contain the sexually produced inoculating ascospores. These are the structures which are used primarily to survive long periods of time or overwinter to prepare for the next growing season of its host. Unfortunately, the sexual stage is not often seen in the natural field but instead the anamorph, or asexual stage is more commonly seen. This asexual stage name is Thielaviopsis paradoxa and is the common cause of Black rot or stem-end rot of its hosts.
Mycosphaerella angulata is a fungal plant pathogen infecting muscadine grapes. This pathogen causes the common disease angular leaf spot. Mycosphaerella angulate is an ascomycete in the fungi kingdom.
Bipolaris cactivora is a plant pathogen causing cactus stem rot and pitaya fruit rot.
Phytophthora megakarya is an oomycete plant pathogen that causes black pod disease in cocoa trees in west and central Africa. This pathogen can cause detrimental loss of yield in the economically important cocoa industry, worth approximately $70 billion annually. It can damage any part of the tree, causing total yield losses which can easily reach 20-25%. A mixture of chemical and cultural controls, as well as choosing resistant plant varieties, are often necessary to control this pathogen.
Moniliophthora roreri is a basidiomycete fungus that causes frosty pod rot disease, one of the most serious problems for cacao production in Latin America. This disease and together with witches’ broom disease and black pod rot constitute the cacao disease trilogy. It causes serious losses in southwestern parts of South America; spores are dry and powdery and are spread easily by water movement, wind, or movement of pods; disease spread is highest during periods of high rainfall.
Rosellinia bunodes is a plant pathogen infecting several hosts including avocados, bananas, cacao and tea.
Glomerella cingulata is a fungal plant pathogen, being the name of the sexual stage (teleomorph) while the more commonly referred to asexual stage (anamorph) is called Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. For most of this article the pathogen will be referred to as C. gloeosporioides. This pathogen is a significant problem worldwide, causing anthracnose and fruit rotting diseases on hundreds of economically important hosts.
Monilinia fructigena is a plant pathogen in the fungus kingdom causing a fruit rot of apples, pears, plums, peaches and cherries.
Pineapple black rot, also known as butt rot, base rot, or white blister, is a disease caused by Ceratocystis paradoxa (teleomorph). C. paradoxa also causes disease in a variety of other tropical plants such as banana, coconut, and sugarcane making it a somewhat dangerous pathogen. Pineapple black rot is the most common and well-known post-harvest disease of the pineapple fruit and is responsible for serious losses in the fresh pineapple fruit world industry. The pathogen is a polyphagous wound parasite and gains entry into the fruit via wounds sustained during and after harvest. The disease only shows up in fresh fruit because the time from harvest to processing it too short for infection occur. Infection can also occur out in the field, but it is not nearly as common as post-harvest infection.
Fusarium mangiferae is a fungal plant pathogen that infects mango trees. Its aerial mycelium is white and floccose. Conidiophores on aerial mycelium originating erect and prostrate from substrate; they are sympodially branched bearing mono and polyphialides. Polyphialides have 2–5 conidiogenous openings. Phialides on the aerial conidiophores mono- and polyphialidic. Sterile hyphae are absent. Microconidia are variable in shape, obovoid conidia are the most abundant type, oval to allantoid conidia occurring occasionally. Microconidia mostly 0-septate with 1-septate conidia occurring less abundantly. Sporodochia are present. Macroconidia are long and slender, usually 3–5 septate. Chlamydospores are absent.
Penicillium digitatum is a mesophilic fungus found in the soil of citrus-producing areas. It is a major source of post-harvest decay in fruits and is responsible for the widespread post-harvest disease in Citrus fruit known as green rot or green mould. In nature, this necrotrophic wound pathogen grows in filaments and reproduces asexually through the production of conidiophores and conidia. However, P. digitatum can also be cultivated in the laboratory setting. Alongside its pathogenic life cycle, P. digitatum is also involved in other human, animal and plant interactions and is currently being used in the production of immunologically based mycological detection assays for the food industry.
Trichothecium roseum is a fungus in the division Ascomycota first reported in 1809. It is characterized by its flat and granular colonies which are initially white and develop to be light pink in color. This fungus reproduces asexually through the formation of conidia with no known sexual state. Trichothecium roseum is distinctive from other species of the genus Trichothecium in its characteristic zigzag patterned chained conidia. It is found in various countries worldwide and can grow in a variety of habitats ranging from leaf litter to fruit crops. Trichothecium roseum produces a wide variety of secondary metabolites including mycotoxins, such as roseotoxins and trichothecenes, which can infect and spoil a variety of fruit crops. It can act as both a secondary and opportunistic pathogen by causing pink rot on various fruits and vegetables and thus has an economical impact on the farming industry. Secondary metabolites of T. roseum, specifically Trichothecinol A, are being investigated as potential anti-metastatic drugs. Several agents including harpin, silicon oxide, and sodium silicate are potential inhibitors of T. roseum growth on fruit crops. Trichothecium roseum is mainly a plant pathogen and has yet to show a significant impact on human health.
Cladosporium cladosporioides is a darkly pigmented mold that occurs world-wide on a wide range of materials both outdoors and indoors.
Lambertella corni-maris is a small ascomycete fungi. It grows in deciduous fruit areas, and causes postharvest Lambertella rot on apple fruits. The species also forms a mycoparasitism relationship with Monilinia fructigena. It is the type species of the genus Lambertella.
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