Colletotrichum truncatum Causing Anthracnose of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in Malaysia

Saleh Ahmed Shahriar; Asmaul Husna; Terna Tersoo Paul; Most Nurjahan Khatun Eaty; Md Quamruzzaman; Abu Bakar Siddique; Md Abdur Rahim; Abu Noman Faruq Ahmmed; Jasim Uddain; Shafiquzzaman Siddiquee

doi:10.3390/microorganisms11010226

Colletotrichum truncatum Causing Anthracnose of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in Malaysia

Microorganisms. 2023 Jan 16;11(1):226. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11010226.

Affiliations

¹ School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor 11800, Penang, Malaysia.
² Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology, Federal University of Lafia, PMB 146, Lafia 950101, Nasarawa State, Nigeria.
³ College of Agricultural Sciences, IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh.
⁴ Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Prospect 7250, Australia.
⁵ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Plant Pathology, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.
⁷ Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.
⁸ Biotechnology Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 88400, Sabah, Malaysia.

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a popular nutritious vegetable crop grown in Malaysia and other parts of the world. However, fungal diseases such as anthracnose pose significant threats to tomato production by reducing the fruit quality and food value of tomato, resulting in lower market prices of the crop globally. In the present study, the etiology of tomato anthracnose was investigated in commercial tomato farms in Sabah, Malaysia. A total of 22 fungal isolates were obtained from anthracnosed tomato fruits and identified as Colletotrichum species, using morphological characteristics. The phylogenetic relationships of multiple gene sequence alignments such as internal transcribed spacer (ITS), β-tubulin (tub2), glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gapdh), actin (act), and calmodulin (cal), were adopted to accurately identify the Colletotrichum species as C. truncatum. The results of pathogenicity tests revealed that all C. truncatum isolates caused anthracnose disease symptoms on inoculated tomato fruits. To our knowledge, the present study is the first report of tomato anthracnose caused by C. truncatum in Malaysia. The findings of this study will be helpful in disease monitoring, and the development of strategies for effective control of anthracnose on tomato fruits.

Keywords: Colletotrichum truncatum; Solanum lycopersicum; anthracnose; molecular identification; morphology; pathogenicity.

Grants and funding

This research project was funded by ‘Strengthening Integrated Research Facilities (SIRF)’ project of Bangladesh Sugarcrop Research Institute (BSRI), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Bangladesh and project code number (GLA0026-2019).