FIRST REPORT OF Colletotrichum lupini CAUSING ANTHRACNOSE DISEASE ON THE OLIVE FRUITS IN MOROCCO

Pure cultures of a large number of fungal isolates were obtained from anthracnose symptoms developed on the olives collected from Ouazzane and Sidi Kacem regions (North and North West of Morocco). Microscopic observations, based on morphological criteria, identified some of them belonging to the genus Colletotrichum. However, high morphological similarity and sometimes identical host range were exhibited by the Colletotrichum species. Molecular taxonomy has brought the OCol1 isolate to Colletotrichum lupini with a similarity of 96.82%. The GenBank accession number for the nucleotide sequence of this isolate is SUB5832003 OCol1 MN064849 voucher RAB107302. Koch's postulates were applied to know the pathogenicity of Colletotrichum lupini encountered for the first time on the olive tree in Morocco. The leaves and olives inoculated with OCol1 showed circular lesions that were soft and dark. The diameters of the lesions developed in fruits and leaves inoculated with mycelial disks of C. lupini are respectively 1.062 and 0.78 cm. Olives and leaves inoculated by spraying a conidial suspension showed symptoms of rot that affected more than 70% of the olives and 40% of the leaves. 15 days after inoculation, these symptoms developed clusters of orange spores.