A new disease was observed on jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) in Awti county, Xinjiang, China, in 2014. The symptoms on infected leaves consisted of spots which were tan in the centre, with black pycnidia, surrounded by dark-brown to black margins, and yellow halos. Infected fruit became dark brown to black, and were covered by small pycnidia. The causal agent was isolated from infected leaves and fruit. Pathogenicity tests showed that the fungus could infect jujube fruits, which developed the same symptoms under artificial inoculation conditions as those observed in the field. The fungus was identified based on morphological and cultural characteristics as Nothophoma quercina (Syd) Q. Chen amp; L. Cai. Identification was confirmed by combining multi-locus phylogenetic analyses based on the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS 1 and 2) and intervening 5.8S nrDNA, and partial gene regions of beta-tubulin (TUB 2). This is the first report of brown spot of jujube caused by Nothophoma quercina (Phoma fungicola) in China.
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