First report of anthracnose caused by Colletotrichumsiamense on Cinnamomumburmanni

Abstract

Cinnamomum burmanni, also referred to as Indonesian cinnamon or Padang cassia, is an edible, medicinal and landscape plant. In recent years, it has been affected by a foliar disease in Nanchang, China, and its growth and value have been compromised. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by inoculating spore suspensions through artificial wounding for pathogenicity tests and followed by reisolating of the pathogen from infected leaves. Colletotrichum siamense was identified as the causal agent of C. burmanni anthracnose based on morphological characteristics and multi-locus phylogenetic analyses. Phylogenetic trees were constructed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference based on the following loci: the internal transcribed spacer, chitin synthase, actin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and calreticulin. As far as we know, this finding is the first time to report that C. siamense is responsible for causing C. burmanni anthracnose. This study provides critical insights for managing the disease at the appropriate stage.