Occurrence of Colletotrichum acutatum, Causal Organism of Strawberry Anthracnose in Southwestern Spain

A wilting disease of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duchesne ‘Oso Grande’) was observed in production fields in Huelva, southwestern Andalucia, Spain. Crowns of wilted plants developed a reddish brown, firm rot. Longitudinal sections of roots of diseased plants showed a black coloration of the cortex. Symptons also included blighting of flowers due to floral infection and rotting of green and ripening fruits. On the fruit, the round, firm sunken lesions were covered with masses of salmon-colored spores. Lesions on the leaves were round, ranged in diameter from 5 to 10 mm, and were light brown with purple edges. Infected tissues were surface disinfected in 20% sodium hypoclorite, blotted dry, and plated on water agar. Dishes were incubated at 25°C; hyphal tips made of fungi growing from lesions were transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated under cool-white fluorescent light at 25°C. One fungus was isolated consistently from lesions on different tissues. It was identified as Colletotrichum a...