Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Fact Sheets

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Mango sooty blotch (317)

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Photo 1. Irregular spots, frequently with light centres and dark margins, caused by mango sooty blotch, Guignardia mangiferae, on the underside of mango leaves.

Photo 2. Leaf spots of mango sooty blotch, Guignardia mangiferae, on the upper surface of a mango leaf.

Photo 3. Underside of the mango leaf (Photo 2) showing spots of mango sooty blotch, Guignardia mangiferae.

Common Name

Mango sooty blotch

Scientific Name

Guignardia mangiferae; this is the sexual state of the fungus. The asexual state is recorded as Phyllosticta anacardiacearum and Phyllosticta capitalensis.

Distribution

Worldwide. In tropical, sub-tropical and temperate counties. Asia, Africa, North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, Oceania.  It is recorded from Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga.

Hosts

Mango. It is recorded as a pathogen and an endophyte from a broad range of plants. An endophyte is a fungus, or a bacterium, that lives inside a plant without causing a disease.

Symptoms & Life Cycle

An unimportant fungus affecting mango and causing leafspots. Often as a symptomless endophyte, i.e., growing inside plant tissues without causing a disease. Leaf spots on mango are known from North America (Miami), Brazil, Ghana, India, and Fiji.

The leaf spots occur on seedlings, circular or irregular, up to 5 mm diam., grey with a dark brown or black border. Only the asexual, Phyllosticta stage occurs in the leaf spots. The sexual, Guignardia stage, occurs on dead leaves.

The fungus is spread in rain and wind.

Impact

A minor disease of little economic impact.

Detection & inspection

Look for the grey leaf spots with dark brown or black margins on leaves. Look for the black dots of the fruit bodies in the spots on the upper leaf surface.

Management

There is no treatment suggested for this disease as it is of little or no economic importance.

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