Cultural, morphological and molecular variability in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides collected from different fruit crops

Anthracnose (Colleotrichum gloeosporioides Penz) is the most important disease contributes significantly to pre-harvest and post-harvest losses in different fruit crops. Eight isolates of Colleotrichum gloeosporioides were collected from different fruit crops and characterised for cultural, morphological and molecular varians. All C. gloeosporioides isolated from fruit crop hosts showed variability amongst them. The test isolate on basic culture medium, potato dextrose agar shows significant variation in colony diameter, type of growth, colour and pigmentation. All isolates produced cylindrical hyaline conidia and they exhibited significant variability in respect of conidial dimension and size of setae. RAPD-PCR analysis of the eight isolates using OPA primer series revealed that the isolate CgMg (Mango) and CgPg (Pomegranate) were closely related with 87.80 per cent genetic similarity and distinct from CgCa (Custard apple) isolate.