First report of bullet wood (Mimusops elengi) sudden decline disease caused by Ceratocystis manginecans in Indonesia

Abstract

Ceratocystis manginecans cause wilt and death of plants in several important crops and native vegetation in Indonesia. Ceratocystis wilt was recently found to be causing substantial mortality in bullet wood (Mimusops elengi) in South Sumatra. The aim of this study was to describe the symptomatology of the new disease and characterize isolates of C. manginecans obtained from diseased bullet wood plants. Diseased plants showed substantial discoloration of the woody xylem and wilt-type symptoms of the foliage, with the eventual death of the whole plant. Isolations from infected plants yielded fungi that were similar morphologically to C. manginecans, with typical hat-shaped ascospores and light-colored perithecial bases. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and Β-tubulin of the isolates confirmed their identification, grouping them with C. manginecans and separating them from all other Ceratocystis species. This is the first report of C. manginecans in Indonesia causing wilt and death on bullet wood. C. manginecans is an important pathogen, and strategies to reduce losses need to be established in Indonesia because the aggressiveness of C. manginecans to bullet wood has been shown in inoculation experiments.