Characterization of botryosphaeria dothidea as new pathogen of kiwifruit in Iran

Abstract

Kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) is one of the most significant commercial crops in Iran. In 2015 a destructive disease of kiwifruits was observed in orchards, storage facilities and retail markets, resulting in great economic loss to producers. In this study phenotypic and molecular techniques were applied to characterize the causal agent of kiwifruit rot observed in Mazandaran province, northern Iran. From the similarity among the results of pathogenicity tests, equivalency with standard taxonomic criteria for disease and PCR-based analysis of the ITS region, all the isolates were identified as Botryosphaeria dothidea.