First Report of Leaf Blight of Bakul (Mimusops Elengi Linn) Caused by Pestalotiopsis Clavispora (G.F. Atk.) Steyaert in India

First Report of Leaf Blight of Bakul (Mimusops Elengi Linn) Caused by Pestalotiopsis Clavispora (G.F. Atk.) Steyaert in India

Pestalotiopsis clavispora (G.F. Atk.) Steyaert was recorded for the first time on Mimusops elengi trees in the University of Mysore campus during 2015-2016. The fungus was isolated from the wilted plant parts and subsequent re-inoculation of the same to healthy plants and its pathogenicity confirmed. Pathogenicity tests showed that Pestalotiopsis clavispora could infect M. elengi, which developed the same symptoms under artificial inoculation conditions to that observed in the field. The fungus was identified based on morphological and culture characteristics as Pestalotiopsis clavispora. Identifications were confirmed using comparisons of DNA sequences of internal transcribed spacers (ITS) regions 1 and 4. This is the first report of Mimusops elengi leaf blight disease caused by P. clavispora.