H. Smith et al., EUCALYPTUS DIEBACK IN SOUTH-AFRICA ASSOCIATED WITH COLLETOTRICHUM-GLOEOSPORIOIDES, South African journal of botany, 64(3), 1998, pp. 226-228
Die-back of members of several Eucalyptus species, clones and hybrids
was observed during a survey of forest plantations in the Mpumalanga a
nd KwaZulu-Natal provinces, South Africa. This symptom was often assoc
iated with agents of environmental stress such as drought, frost and h
ot winds. Botryosphaeria dothidea, a well-known pathogen of Eucalyptus
was frequently isolated from twigs showing die-back symptoms. in some
cases, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was isolated together with B. d
othidea. Artificial inoculations of members of a Eucalyptus grandis cl
one with both fungi resulted in lesion development. Although C. gloeos
porioides was isolated much less frequently and only in the Mpumalanga
Province, it gave rise to larger lesions after inoculation than did B
. dothidea. This is the first report of die-back of Eucalyptus trees c
aused by C. gloeosporioides in South Africa.