PRUEBA DE APAREAMIENTO EN 90 AISLAMIENTOS DE Phytophthora, PROVENIENTES DE FRUTOS ENFERMOS DE CACAO (Theobroma cacao Lin.) EN EL MUNICIPIO DE BARACOA, PROVINCIA GUANTÁNAMO, CUBA

There are at least six species of Phytophthora reported as causative agents of cacao disease known as black pod, which causes great losses worldwide. In order to identify and characterize the main species of Phytophthora present in cacao crop at Baracoa, Guantanamo, 90 isolates extracted from diseased fruits of cocoa were tested by pairing with the reference strains of Phytophthora palmivora 52539 (A1) and 52540 (A2), from the fungal collection of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Of the total isolates tested, 88 were consistent with the type A1 strain. The two remaining isolates showed no compatibility with either of the two reference strains, indicating the presence of another species.