Spatial pattern of black spot incidence within citrus trees related to disease severity and pathogen dispersal

Guignardia citricarpa , the causal agent of citrus black spot, forms airborne ascospores on decomposing citrus leaves and water-spread conidia on fruits, leaves and twigs. The spatial pattern of diseased fruit in citrus tree canopies was used to assess the importance of ascospores and conidia in citrus black spot epidemics in São Paulo State, Brazil. The aggregation of diseased fruit in the citrus tree canopy was quantified by the binomial dispersion index ( D ) and the binary form of Taylor's Power Law for 303 trees in six groves. D was significantly greater than 1 in 251 trees. The intercept of the regression line of Taylor's Power Law was significantly greater than 0 and the slope was not different from 1, implying that diseased fruit was aggregated in the canopy independent of disease incidence. Disease incidence ( p ) and severity ( S ) were assessed in 2875 citrus trees. The incidence-severity relationship was described ( R ² = 88·7%) by the model ln( S ) = ln( a ) +  b CLL( p ) where CLL = complementary log-log transformation. The high severity at low incidence observed in many cases is also indicative of low distance spread of G. citricarpa spores. For the same level of disease incidence, some trees had most of the diseased fruit with many lesions and high disease severity, whereas other trees had most of the fruit with few lesions and low disease severity. Aggregation of diseased fruit in the trees suggests that splash-dispersed conidia have an important role in increasing the disease in citrus trees in Brazil.     

Citrus black spot intensity and yield losses on sweet orange are affected by Phyllosticta citricarpa inoculum concentration and fruit developmental stage

Citrus black spot (CBS) symptom expression on sweet oranges has been reported to be affected by the fruit developmental stage and inoculum concentration in greenhouse conditions. However, there is little information concerning the period in which the fruit is susceptible in commercial orchards. This study assessed the influence of fruit age and inoculum concentration of Phyllosticta citricarpa on CBS intensity and fruit drop in the field. Two field trials were conducted in commercial ‘Valencia’ orchards in São Paulo state, Brazil. Fruit were inoculated from October (petal fall stage) to July (c.6.5 cm diameter), with 10¹, 10³ and 10⁵ pycnidiospores/ml. CBS symptoms and fruit drop were observed in higher levels for fruit inoculated from October to February than from March to July. In both trials, when fruit were inoculated 10 times from October to July or single-inoculated in November or December, high CBS severities of 11%–22% were observed and the proportion of fruit remaining on the tree was 48%–77%; in contrast, noninoculated fruit had severity below 1.1% and 90% remained on the tree. Inoculations in November or December of green fruit with 1.5–3.0 cm diameter using 10⁵ pycnidiospores/ml were associated with higher CBS intensity and fruit drop and shorter incubation period than inoculations with lower concentrations. This work provides a better understanding of fruit stages and P. citricarpa inoculum concentrations most related to symptom expression and losses under natural conditions and may be helpful for improvement of CBS management in the São Paulo citrus belt.     

广东梅州蜜柚柑橘黑斑病菌的检验鉴定

近年,柑橘黑斑病成为阻碍我国柑橘鲜果出口贸易的瓶颈,广东梅州名优鲜果蜜柚生产基地也遇到类似情况。该病发生后,病果果皮表面产生许多圆形病斑,初呈红褐色,中间凹陷,直径多为2~3mm,后期病斑逐渐转为褐色至黑褐色,病斑中部明显可见细小的黑色粒点状分生孢子器。病果分离物的培养性状与形态特征与柑橘黑斑病菌(柑橘球座菌,Guignarida citricarpa)一致。采用真菌ITS通用引物和柑橘球座菌特异性引物,从病斑组织基因组DNA及分离物基因组DNA中分别扩增得到541bp和396bp的片段。BLAST分析表明:扩增到的片段均与GenBank中已知柑橘球座菌菌株的rDNAITS序列相似性最高,分别为97%和98%。根据分离菌株的培养性状和形态特征及ITS区序列分析结果,将梅州蜜柚上的柑橘黑斑病菌鉴定为柑橘球座菌(Guignarida citricarpa Kiely)。     

漳州琯溪蜜柚果实黑斑病菌的分子鉴定

2008年从漳州采集到疑似由柑橘球座菌(Guignardia citricarpaKiely)引起的黑斑病症状的溪琯蜜柚(Citrus grandis(Linn.)Osbeck cv.guanxi-miyou)果实。使用柑橘球座菌(G.citricarpa)特异引物对该果实上的病斑进行PCR检测及序列分析。PCR检测结果表明从溪琯蜜柚果实病斑上扩增到约490bp的条带。序列分析结果表明,与已知的亚洲柑橘叶点霉(Phyllosticta citriasiana)、G.citricarpa和G.mangif-erae的相应序列同源性分别为99.8%、98.2%和94.0%。该序列含有部分的内转录间隔区1(ITS1)、5.8S核糖体RNA基因(5.8S rRNA)和部分的内转录间隔区2(ITS2)序列。结果表明,引起溪琯蜜柚果实病害的病原菌并不是G.citricarpa,而是一种新描述的病原菌——亚洲柑橘叶点霉(Phyllosticta citriasianaWulan-dari,Crous&Gruyter),该病原菌引起的病害称为柑橘褐斑病。     

Spatiotemporal dynamics and modelling support the case for area-wide management of citrus greasy spot in a Brazilian smallholder farming region

Citrus greasy spot (CGS), caused by Zasmidium citri, induces premature defoliation and yield loss in Citrus spp. The epidemiology of CGS is well understood in high humidity areas, but remains unaddressed in Brazil, despite differing climatic conditions and disease management practices. The spatiotemporal dynamics of CGS were characterized in the Recôncavo of Bahia (Brazil) at four hierarchical levels (quadrant, plant, grove, and region). A survey conducted in 19 municipalities found the disease to be present throughout the region with an incidence of 100% in groves and plants, and higher than 70% on leaves. Index of dispersion (D) values suggest the spatial pattern of units with symptoms lies between random and regular. This was confirmed by the parameters of the binary power law for plants and their quadrants (log[A] < 0 and b < 1). No consistent differences were observed in the disease incidence at different plant heights. We introduce a compartmental model synthesizing CGS epidemiology. The collected data allow such a model to be parameterized, albeit with some ambiguity over the proportion of new infections that result from inoculum produced within the grove versus external sources of infection. By extending the model to include two populations of growers—those who control and those who do not—coupled by airborne inoculum, we investigate likely performance of cultural controls accessible to citrus growers in northeastern Brazil. The results show that control via removal of fallen leaves can be very effective. However, successful control is likely to require area-wide strategies in which a large proportion of growers actively manage disease.