| Cladosporium sp. is the Major Causal Agent in the Microbial Complex Associated withthe Skin Sooty Dapple Disease of the Asian Pear in Korea |
|
Young Seob Park, Ki Chung Kim, Jang Hoon Lee, Song Mi Cho, Yong Soo Choi, Young Cheol Kim |
|
|
| Abstract |
|
Skin sooty dapple disease, a fungal disease that lowers Asian pear fruit quality, has emerged recently in Korea but has not yet been thoroughly characterized. This disease affects the surface of fruit, leaves, and young shoots of the Asian pear, typically appearing as a dark or pale black dapple on the fruit surface. The disease initiates on the fruit with small circular lesions that become bigger, eventually spreading to form large circular or indefinite lesions. Sparse dark or flourishing white-greyish aerial mycelia and appearance of a dark or pale black dapple on the fruit surface are typical signs of this disease. The disease was severe during cold storage of the Niitaka and Chuhwangbae varieties, but more limited on the Gamcheonbae and Hwangkeumbae varieties. To identify causal pathogens, 123 fungal isolates were obtained from lesions. The fungi that caused typical skin sooty dapple disease symptoms in our bioassay were identified. Based on their morphological characteristics, 74% of the isolates were Cladosporium sp. and 5-7% of the isolates were Leptosphaerulina sp., Tripospermum sp., or Tilletiopsis sp. None of the isolates caused severe soft rot by injection to a wound plug, but some of the Cladosporium sp. isolates caused mild maceration. Therefore this microbiol complex cannot account for the soft rot also observed in stored fruits. The high frequency of isolation of Cladosporium sp. from disease tissues and bioassay on pear fruit surface suggest that Cladosporium sp. could be a major pathogen in the microbial complex associated with skin sooty dapple disease of the Asian pear in Korea. |
| Key Words:
Cladosporium sp., cold storage, field survey, Koch`s postulates, skin sooty dapple |
|
PDF Links
Full text via DOI
Download Citation
