Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds - Mini Fact Sheet Edition

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Mango anthracnose (009)

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Photo 1. Shoot blight of mango, caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Some of the spots have joined together destroying large areas of the leaves, typical for a "blight" disease.

Photo 2. Dark spots, many enlarging and joining together, of mango anthracnose, Glomerella cingulata. The fungus infects the skins and later develops in storage. Orange-pink spore masses develop in the centres of these areas.

Photo 3. Mangoes for sale at a market showing dark spots of anthracnose, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.

Photo 4. Scolecostigmina mangiferae leaf spots on underside of a mango leaf; they are small, dark, irregular spots.

Photo 5. Scolecostigmina leaf spots on the top side of a mango leaf, small, dark, irregular spots with light green margins. Compare with anthracnose.

Photo 6. Close-up of Scolecostigmina leaf spots.

Summary

• Worldwide distribution. On mango. Many other crops are hosts of this fungus, including avocado, capsicum, coffee, eggplant, papaya, tomato and yam. There are different strains, infecting different crops and weeds. An important disease.
• A wet-weather fungal disease, common on mango and yam. On mango, a blight of flowers, and young shoots, causing leaf spots, and post-harvest rots of ripening fruit.
• Masses of spores are formed, and these are spread in wind-driven rain.
• Cultural control: prune trees (<4 m tall) to allow air to move freely through the canopy, reducing the time that leaves and flowers are wet; resistant varieties.
• Chemical control: use copper or mancozeb, beginning when flowers appear until the pre-harvest waiting period. For fruit: post-harvest dip in carbendazim or hot water (both for 5 mins at 52°C).

Common Name

Mango anthracnose, mango blossom blight

Scientific Name

Glomerella cingulata (it also has the name of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides). Glomerella is the sexual stage of the fungus, and Colletotrichum the asexual stage. The disease is often referred to as "anthracnose" of mango. The word anthracnose means "coal", so fungi that produce dark spots are often given this name. Another fungus also causes leaf spots: Scolecostigmina mangiferae (see FactSheet no. 325).

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