Limited morphological,physiological and genetic diversity of Phytophthora palmivora from cocoa in Papua New Guinea |
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| Authors: | J. Saul Maora E. C. Y. Liew D. I. Guest |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2015, Australia;2. Cocoa and Coconut Institute, Rabaul 611, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea;3. Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, NSW, Australia |
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| Abstract: | In Papua New Guinea (PNG) cocoa (Theobroma cacao) is one of the most important cash crops grown in the tropical lowland and island regions. As in most cocoa‐growing areas, phytophthora black pod and canker cause significant yield losses. Cocoa breeding activities in PNG are focused in East New Britain province where disease control recommendations are also developed. This study tested the hypothesis that there was no diversity in the Phytophthora palmivora population causing black pod on cocoa by characterizing the variation in pathogen populations within and between the five major cocoa‐growing areas. Diseased pods were sampled hierarchically from the five locations and additional isolates were collected from soil, stem and leaf lesions, or retrieved from culture collections. Morphological characters showed continuous variation within the range described for P. palmivora. Genetic analysis revealed that the isolates belonged to one dominant clonal lineage, with restricted distributions of several other subpopulations. Lowest diversities were found in the geographically isolated Karkar Island and East Sepik province. Soil isolates showed greater genetic diversity than isolates from cocoa lesions. Intra‐farm variation was as much as inter‐farm or inter‐province variation. Both mating types were detected, although no strong evidence of sexual recombination was observed. The analysis revealed limited geographic, temporal or host specialization, suggesting continuous selection for pathogenicity from a genetic pool of P. palmivora. These findings have significant implications on the deployment of cocoa genotypes, enforcement of inter‐province quarantine and sustainable disease management strategies. |
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| Keywords: | cocoa black pod cocoa disease pathogen diversity phytophthora disease pod rot |
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