Evaluation of Anthracnose Disease of Mango (Mangifera indica L.) Fruits and Characterization of Causal Agent in Côte dʹʹIvoire

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) anthracnose is the most important postharvest disease limiting shelf life and export of fresh mangoes fruits in Côte d’Ivoire. However, its scientific report of disease is still lacking, primarily on anthracnose disease. Market and field survey were conducted in 2009 and 2010-2011 respectively. Disease Incidence (DI) and Disease Severity (DS) were recorded and causal agent characterized. Results revealed the presence of anthracnose in mango orchards in Côte dʹIvoire. Symptoms were rounds with regular or irregular contours black spots. The incidence and severity of anthracnose recorded on mangoes collected in field were higher in Odienné and Ferkessédougou than those in Korhogo. The incidence and severity of the disease seem to be influenced by climatic parameters and cultural practices. Based on white-grey colony and cylindrical conidia and the pathogenicity test, the pathogen was identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Variability of the pathogenicity of strains of C. gloeosporioides also revealed the presence of pathotypes. The PCR performed with the C. gloeosporioides and C. acutatum species-specific primer CgInt and CaInt2 with the universal primer ITS4 yielded a single band of 450 bp for C. gloeosporioides. Nucleotide sequences of the ITS region of the ribosomal DNA of twelve selected isolates showed 100% homology with C. gloeosporioides isolates available in the GenBank of NCBI. Thus, present study demonstrated that C. gloeosporioides is the pathogen responsible for anthracnose disease of mango produced in Côte dʹIvoire.