The materials on citrus mycobiota research

Abstract

In this paper the results on citrus fruit mycobiota research are presented. The following citrus varieties are widely spread in the humid subtropical climate zone of Western Georgia, on the Black Sea coast: lemon, mandarin, orange and grapefruit. The favorable climatic conditions for fruit development promote the development of various fungal diseases as well, including the diseases of the fruit. The aim of the present research was to study the mycobiota of citrus fruits and to determine the causal agent of disease – the pathogenic fun- gi. For the identification of fruit mycobiota the isolation of fungi in pure culture from the lesion fruit were performed in the test-tubes and onto the Petri dishes. The identified by us 15 species of fungi include the following: Rhizopus nigricans E., Fusarium lateritium Nees, F. limonii Br., Penicillium italicum Wehmer, P. Digitatum Sacc., Aspergillus niger van. Tiegh., Trichoderma lignorum Tode, Botrytis cinerea Pers., Alternaria citri Pierce, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides Penz., Sphaceloma fawcettii Jenk. (Elsinoe fawcettii Bitancourt &Jenk.), Phoma citricarpa Mc. Alpine, Ph. limonis Thum and Phomopsis citri Faw. The Fungus Aternaria citri differs from above listed by the frequency of occurrence. Their diagnosis are provided below.