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First Report of Root Rot Caused by Ilyonectria (= Neonectria ) macrodidyma on Avocado ( Persea americana ) in Italy
Author(s) -
Vitale Alessandro,
Aiello Dalia,
Guarnaccia Vladimiro,
Perrone Giancarlo,
Stea Gaetano,
Polizzi Giancarlo
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of phytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1439-0434
pISSN - 0931-1785
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0434.2011.01869.x
Subject(s) - persea , biology , internal transcribed spacer , botany , potato dextrose agar , pathogenicity , root rot , horticulture , phylogenetic tree , gene , agar , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genetics , bacteria
During the 2009 and the 2010 growing seasons, a root rot disease has been detected on young potted Persea americana plants in two nurseries located in the Catania and Messina provinces (eastern Sicily, Italy). A Cylindrocarpon sp. was consistently recovered from pieces of symptomatic tissues on Petri dishes containing potato dextrose agar. On the basis of morphological characteristics and molecular identification by DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of internal transcribed spacer and β‐tubulin gene regions, the causal agent was identified as Ilyonectria (= Neonectria ) macrodidyma . Koch’s postulates were fulfilled by pathogenicity tests carried out on potted P. americana seedlings. To our knowledge, this is the first to report worldwide of the occurrence of a disease caused by I. macrodidyma on P. americana.