First Report of Leaf Blight of Jasminum sambac Caused by Bipolaris australiensis in Pakistan

During disease surveys of plants in 2021, leaf blight was observed on Jasminum sambac plants in City Housing Society, Gujranwala, Punjab, Pakistan. Infection spots occurred on the margins of leaves in the form of large patches on both abaxial and adaxial surfaces of J. sambac. These spots began as small necrotic spots and developed into irregular pale brown patches with black powder covering the surfaces. The causative organism was consistently isolated from infected leaves on potato dextrose agar. Based on morphological analysis, the species isolated from Jasminum sambac during this research belongs to the genus Bipolaris and has been identified as Bipolaris australiensis. This fungal species has not previously been reported on this host plant worldwide, and this fungal taxon has been characterized for the first time in detail from Pakistan. To the best of our knowledge, J. sambac is a new host record for this fungal species in Pakistan and worldwide. A key to the identification of Pakistani species of the genus Bipolaris is presented in this paper