Young olive trees showing wilting and trunk cankers were observed in an orchard in Antalya province, Turkey. The aerial symptoms associated with reddish brown cankers expanding from the root collar to the stem were leaf discolouration, defoliation, and twig dieback. A Phytophthora sp. was consistently isolated from necrotic root and crown tissues of symptomatic trees. The causal agent of the disease was identified as Phytophthora inundata by morphological characteristics and comparison of sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacer ( ITS) region. Pathogenicity of the isolates was tested by stem inoculation and soil infestation using olive saplings. At the end of the experiments, lesions developed on both stems and roots, and root weight reduction occurred. This is the first report of P. inundata causing disease of olive trees in Turkey.
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