Abstract

Thirty-four isolates of Colletotrichum spp. including 2 species, Colletotrichumgloeosporioides and Colletotrichum capsici, from anthracnose on Bell pepper, Long cayenne pepper and Bird’s eye chilli were isolated and their pathogenicity was proven via fruit inoculation. Pathogenicity tests divided pathogenic potential into low, medium and high virulence groups. It is clearly revealed that C. capsici from the three tested hosts expressed the highest virulent isolates. Cross-inoculation of three high virulent isolates of C. capsici in accordance with three chilli varieties showed that all isolates could produce anthracnose symptom in the same lesions. All tested isolates developed lesions after co-inoculation of all hosts. Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis indicated that there are two distinct groups of C. gloeosporioides andC. capsici. Furthermore, genetic diversity was correlated with geographic distribution, while there was no clear relationship between genetic diversity and pathogenic variability. But it is clearly demonstrated that whereas C. gloeosporioides appears in the same geographic area as C. capsici, it causes lower disease incidence.

Key words:  Anthracnose, chilli, Colletotrichum capsici, cross-inoculation.