'Secret' life of avocado anthracnose

摘要

Anthracnose of avocados is a latent disease and the symptoms only develop after picking, while infection would have taken place several months earlier in the orchards. Dr Terry Mabbett presents the lifecycle of the causal organism. AVOCADO—WHICH ORIGINATED in Central America, particularly in high-elevation areas of Mexico and Guatemala—is now being produced commercially throughout the tropics and subtropics with Asian and Pacific Rim countries including India, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia and New Zealand becoming increasingly important producers. Wherever grown, avocado is plagued by fungal pathogens infecting the leaves and fruit and one in particular called anthracnose caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.