First report of Cladosporium cladosporioides, a fungus that causes rot in zapote mante fruits in Mexico

Abstract

The consumption of zapote mante (Pouteria campechiana) in Mexico has increased, being the municipality of El Mante, Tamaulipas, one of the main producers. In a non-commercial garden, sunken spots of brown color coalesced in fruits. The objective of this study was to identify the causal agent of the spot of fruit de zapote mante. With the fungi isolated, the Koch postulates were amplified, and the ITS region of the rDNA was amplified by PCR using the universal primers ITS1-ITS4. Morphological and molecular analysis indicated that the causal agent of the fruit blotch is the fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this pathogen affecting this zapote mante in Mexico.