Fungal diseases of imported fruits and ornamentals in the Philippines

Diseased imported fruits and ornamentals were diagnosed and associated fungal isolates were subjected into pathogenicity test. From 59 associated fungi, 48 of those were found pathogenic and 11 of those may have been saprobic in nature. Number of fungi was found higher in ornamentals than in fruits with 26 and 22 fungal isolates, respectively. In ornamentals, highest occurrence of pathogenic fungi were from lisianthus with 19.23%. Least occurred fungi were identified from casa blanca and star gazer with 3.85% each. On the other hand, among the fruits, persimmon had the most number of detected pathogenic fungi accounted to 27.27% while kiwi, longan, orange and pear had the lowest percentage with 4.55% each. Pathogenic fungi in fruits and ornamentals were then grouped as sporulated and non-sporulated. Sporulated fungi had 86.36% occurrence in fruits while 88.46% in ornamentals, whereas the proportion of non-sporulated were 13.46% (fruits) and 11.54% (ornamentals). Fungi that sporulated were further grouped into Hyphomycete, Coelomycete and Zygomycete. The proportion of Hyphomycete was found highest among the fungal group with 45.45% in fruits while 65.38% in ornamentals. Coelomycete, on the other hand, had 40.91% and 19.23% occurrence in fruits and ornamentals, respectively. Rare existence of a Zygomycete was found only in ornamentals. Of the eight fungal genera identified under Hyphomycete, species of Botrytis and Fusarium were frequently detected in ornamentals with five species each, temporarily coded for future identification, while species of Aspergillus mostly occurred in fruits with three species. A species of Alternaria, Aspergillus and Curvularia were also accounted in ornamentals while Curvularia, Penicillium and Stachybotrys in fruits. Frequency of occurrence of different genera under coelomycete was also determined. Pestalotiopsis frequently occurred among other fungal genera in which four coded fungal species were from fruits while two from ornamentals. Least detected genera were Endomelanconium and Phomopsis in fruits while Lasiodiplodia in ornamentals. Results from pathogenicity tests showed that mostly infected commodities were persimmon (fruit) and lisianthus (ornamentals) with highest number of pathogenic fungi, six and five isolates, respectively. Symptoms exhibited by inoculated fruits and ornamentals were also noted. In inoculated imported fruits, all fungi utilized in pathogenicity test caused rot infection which can be soft rot, dry rot or stem-end rot. Most detected fungi in the study were also reported from the available local data except Phomopsis, Stachybotrys, and Endomelanconium in apple, Pestalotiopsis in longan and persimmon, Fusarium in pear and persimmon. However, diseases in ornamentals after inoculation showed either rot, spots or blight. Based on available local data, all pathogens detected in diseased ornamentals were new records.