Abstract

ALMENARES, Maybel  and  PEREZ-VICENTE, Luis. Speckle by Corynespora torulosa (Syd.) Crous: a pre-harvest fruit disease of Musa spp. in Cuba. Rev. Protección Veg. [online]. 2019, vol.34, n.3  Epub Dec 01, 2019. ISSN 2224-4697.

It was studied the etiology of a fruit disease spots in form of a speckling of Cavendish banana fruits that causes fruit quality deterioration and commercial rejection. For this purpose, peel spots were placed in humid chambers to incite fungal development, and isolations were carried out on water agar + streptomycin. To fulfill Koch postulates, CEMSA 3/4 and Burro CEMSA fruits were inoculated with a spore suspension of 1x105 conidia/ml and incubated at room temperature under high relative humidity. Fruits of Cavendish and Gros Michel (AAA), CEMSA 3/4 and Pisang ceylan (AAB), Pisang awak and Burro CEMSA (ABB) were inoculated as described. The fungus Corynespora torulosa (Syd) Crous, comb. new (syn. Deightoniella torulosa (Syd.), M.B. Ellis) was uniformly recovered from the humid chambers and isolations. The artificial inoculations of Cavendish fruits with the isolates obtained reproduced the speckling symptoms, and C. torulosa was confirmed as the causal agent of speckling. All varieties inoculated showed to be susceptible to the pathogen. It is the first time that C. torulosa is described in Cuba as the causal agent of fruit speckling previously attributed to other causes. C. torulosa is a colonizer of senescent leaves, fruit flowers, and bracts of Musa plants and becomes airborne during appropriate environmental conditions. It is discussed that sanitation of senescent leaves and fruits organs are essential to reduce incidence of the disease.

Keywords : Deightoniella torulosa; fruit wastages; sanitation; resistance of cultivars.

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