Surface Ultrastructural Studies on Penetration and Infection Process of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on Mulberry Leaf Causing Black Spot Disease

Unicelled conidia of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides ger- minated 3 h after inoculation producing single germ tubes. The orientation of the germ tubes and their lateral branches as they grew was towards the open stomata and away from closed stomata. By 24 h post-inocula- tion, the lateral branches had developed specialized infection vesicles either over the stomata or within the stomatal cavities. The infection vesicles produced pri- mary infection hyphae which entered the leaves through stomatal openings. The disease symptoms became apparent by 6 days post-inoculation when clusters of abundant conidiophores emerged by rupturing the leaf epidermal layer, forming acervuli mostly near the base of idioblasts. The pressure exerted by the emerging conidiophores caused stretching of epidermal layer leading to the widening of the acervuli. The conidia are borne on the tips of the erect conidiophores.