Phytopathogenic discomycetes, their economic impacts and control applications

Abstract

Discomycetes is an artificial group in Ascomycota, comprising fungal species bearing saucer-, cup or disc like ascoma. There are many records of phytopathogenic discomycetes causing diseases in a wide range of vascular and non vascular plants worldwide. In this review, we present phytopathogenic, discomycetous fungal taxa and provide notes on representative species, their economic importance and available management strategies. Phytopathogenic discomycetes are found in six classes of fungi, Dothideomycetes (distributed across three orders, two families and seven genera), Eurotiomycetes (across two orders, two families and two genera), Lecanoromycetes (across three orders, three families and four genera), Leotiomycetes (across nine orders, 23 families and 104 genera) and Pezizomycetes (across one order, seven families and 18 genera). The survival and completion of the life cycle of these discomycetes depend on their mode of parasitism on plant hosts in terrestrial habitats, including man made landscapes (i.e., agricultural areas) and natural environments (i.e., forests). Agricultural and forest plant commodities are impacted by biotrophic, hemibiotrophic and necrotrophic discomycetes. Due to the complexity of their life cycles, many species have not yet been discovered and documented. Thus, this study can provide the foundation for comprehensive future studies into their taxonomy, physiology and host interactions.