Pacific Pests, Pathogens, Weeds & Pesticides - Online edition

Pacific Pests, Pathogens, Weeds & Pesticides

Passionfruit spots (153)

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Photo 1. Spots, light brown with yellow haloes, on leaf of passionfruit caused by Alternaria alternata.

Photo 2. Spots on passionfruit caused by Alternaria passiflora; they are generally larger than those of Alternaria alternata, especially on the fruits and stems.

Photo 3. Deeply sunken spots on a granadilla fruit, covered with dark spore masses of Alternaria passiflorae.

Summary

  • Worldwide distribution. On passionfruit, granadilla and weeds (e.g., stinking passion flower). Occasionally important.
  • Fungal spots on crops and weeds cause leaf fall. Spots on fruit are dark brown and sunken.
  • Severe in wet weather; spores spread in wind and rain.
  • Cultural control: allow spacing so that air circulation dries leaves rapidly; ensure adequate nutrition; prune vines, removing dead or weak sections; weed, especially remove wild passion flower; after pruning, collect trash and burn after harvest; tolerant varieties. Chemical control: copper or mancozeb.

Common Name

Brown spot and Alternata spot

Scientific Name

Alternaria passiflorae (brown spot) and Alternaria alternata (Alternata spot).

Photo 4. Dark brown spots of Alternata spot, Alternaria alternata, on passionfruits.

AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
Information from Gerlach WWP (1988) Plant diseases of Western Samoa. Samoan German Crop Protection Project, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) Gmbh, Germany; and from (including Photos 1,2&4) Diseases of fruit crops in Australia (2009). Editors, Tony Cooke, et al. CSIRO Publishing. Photo 3 Kohler F, et al. (1997) Diseases of cultivated crops in Pacific Island countries. South Pacific Commission. Pirie Printers Pty Limited, Canberra, Australia.

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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