Vol. 64 No. 2 (2025)
Articles

First report of Biscogniauxia mediterranea causing cankers on almond trees (Prunus dulcis)

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  • Ana FAUSTINO,
  • Cláudia MARINHO,
  • M. Margarida OLIVEIRA,
  • Maria do ROSÁRIO FÉLIX ,
  • Liliana MARUM
Ana FAUSTINO
Alentejo Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and Agro-Food (CEBAL)/ Polytechnic University of Beja (IPBeja), 7801-908 Beja, Portugal
Cláudia MARINHO
Alentejo Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and Agro-Food (CEBAL)/ Polytechnic University of Beja (IPBeja), 7801-908 Beja, Portugal
M. Margarida OLIVEIRA
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Plant Functional Genomics Laboratory, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal
Maria do ROSÁRIO FÉLIX
MED - Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Departamento de Fitotecnia, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal
Liliana MARUM
Alentejo Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and Agro-Food (CEBAL)/ Polytechnic University of Beja (IPBeja), 7801-908 Beja, Portugal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/phyto-16049

Published 2025-09-12

Keywords

  • Biscogniauxia mediterranea,
  • Prunus dulcis,
  • charcoal disease,
  • pathogenicity,
  • Koch's postulates

How to Cite

[1]
A. FAUSTINO, C. MARINHO, M. M. OLIVEIRA, do ROSÁRIO FÉLIX M., and L. MARUM, “First report of Biscogniauxia mediterranea causing cankers on almond trees (Prunus dulcis)”, Phytopathol. Mediterr., vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 191–197, Sep. 2025.

Copyright (c) 2025 Ana FAUSTINO, Cláudia MARINHO, M. Margarida OLIVEIRA, Maria do ROSÁRIO FÉLIX , Liliana MARUM

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Biscogniauxia mediterranea is the causal agent of charcoal disease in Quercus suber, the main species of the dynamic ecosystem, known as “Montado”, in the Alentejo region, Portugal. In the last years, almond orchards have been introduced in this region due to water availability through the Alqueva dam and the possibility of mechanical harvest. The high-density planting associated with mechanized harvesting and irrigation systems observed in these new orchards can potentiate the appearance of new diseases. In a survey conducted in March 2022, symptomatic diseased trees from Soleta and Vairo cultivars were detected in Beja, Portugal. From this material, we have isolated numerous cultures and could identify B. mediterranea from all individuals analyzed by molecular and morphological techniques. Pathogenicity tests were performed in almond plant material and successfully reisolated from lesions, confirming Koch’s postulates. Phylogenetics analyses demonstrated the similarity between our sequences and sequences from Quercus suber worldwide. To our knowledge, this is the first report of B. mediterranea causing diseases on almond trees (Prunus dulcis) in Portugal and worldwide.

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