First Report of Colletotrichum tropicale Causing Anthracnose on Common Fig in Taiwan

Ficus carica L. known as common fig is one of the most profitable fruit crops in Taiwan. Their fruit are harvested for high-priced market. Common fig can be eaten fresh or dried and processed to make different food products. In September 2015, an anthracnose-like disease was widely observed on common fig fruit planted in an orchard in Lukang township (24°04'36" N, 120°27'15" E) in Changhua County, central Taiwan. Symptoms were sunken, water-soaked lesions covered with salmon-colored spore masses and were observed on all stages of fruit, especially when fruit was ripe. Four fungal isolates were collected from four diseased fruit of different plants in the same orchard. Conidia were spread on 2% water agar, and a single conidium was separated by a handmade glass needle. Fungal isolates were grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 24 to 28°C with diffused light. All four strains produced white, aerial, and cottony mycelia covered with abundant salmon-colored conidial masses on PDA. The conidia were hyaline, single celled, round cylindrical on both ends, thin walled, and the contents guttulate. The sizes of conidia were 15.4 (18.5 to 13.1) × 4.73 (5.8 to 3.6) μm [average (max. to min.); length/width ratio = 3.25, n = 40]. DNA was isolated from the representative isolate FC1 and used for amplification of partial sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), actin (ACT), β-tubulin 2 (TUB2), manganese-superoxide dismutase (SOD2), calmodulin (CAL), chitin synthase 1 (CHS-1) (Weir et al. 2012) and the intergenic region of apn2 and MAT1-2-1 gene (ApMat) genes (Sharma et al. 2013). A BLAST search against the NCBI database revealed that FC1 gene sequences [GenBank accession nos. MT192648 (ITS), MT155819 (GAPDH), MT199873 (ACT), MT199874 (TUB2), MT815916 (SOD2), MT815917 (CAL), MW684717 (CHS-1) and MT221652 (ApMat)] displayed 99.1, 98.2, 99.3, 99.6, 99.5, 100.0, 92.8 and 100.0% nucleotide identity to the respective gene sequences of Colletotrichum tropicale CBS 124949 (ICMP18653) (JX010264, JX010007, JX009489, JX010407, JX010329, JX009719, JX009870 and KC790728). Multilocus phylogenetic analysis performed with reference sequences showed that the isolate FC1 clustered with C. tropicale in accordance with BLAST results. A conidial suspension (1 × 106 conidia/mL) prepared from FC1 isolate was inoculated by spraying onto detached, ripe, healthy, non-wounded and surface-disinfected common fig fruit (cv. China, n = 4). Fruit sprayed with sterile water were used as control. Fruit were kept in a moist chamber (greater than 90% relative humidity, 24 to 28°C) for 24 h and then maintained in the lab for additional 5 days. The inoculated fruit developed lesions similar to the disease symptoms in the orchard. No symptom was observed on fruit treated with water. C. tropicale was re-isolated from symptomatic fruits and had similar morphological characteristics to FC1 isolate, thus fulfilling Koch’s postulates. The experiment was repeated once showing similar results. The FC1 isolate of C. tropicale with the identification number BCRC FU31436 has been deposited at Taiwan Bioresource Collection and Research Center. This fungus had previously been found on lotus and mango in Taiwan (Chen and Kirschner 2018; Wu et al. 2020), while the pathogenicity among the isolates from different origins is not yet known. To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. tropicale causing anthracnose on common fig fruit in Taiwan.

OMPARATIVE ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF WILD AND CULTIVATED LEAVES OF FICUS CARICA LINN

Objective: To compare the antifungal activity of wild and cultivated Ficus carica Linn (common fig) leaves extract Materials and Methods: An experimental study was conducted in the department of Botany Islamia College Peshawar from June 2016 to December 2016 which was shaped in 2021 into a research study in the Department of Community Medicine, Khyber Medical College Peshawar. The agar tube dilution method was used for antifungal activity of the extracts. Results: Comparison of Zone of Inhibition (%) in both Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus colonies revealed that cultivated species of Ficus carica Linn (common fig locally known as Anjeer ) had more antifungal property against both the fungal species (63% and higher compared that to wild species having maximum zone of inhibition of 54.54%) with the exception of wild plant extract in polar solvent such as chloroform which had high level of antifungal activity (61.53%) only against Aspegillus fumigatus. The experiment also revealed that extracts from both wild and cultivated Ficus carica Linn leaves in polar solvents such as methanol( also written and referred to methanolic in the article) and chloroform showed higher level of antifungal activity against both the fungal species compared to extract taken in non-polar solvents. Conclusion: Extract from cultivated species of Ficus carica Linn had higher level of activity against both the fungal species i.e. Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus, especially extract taken in polar solvents. Key words: Ficus carica Linn, antifungal, tube dilution, zone of inhibition

Pomological and sensory properties of 8 different fig varieties in Croatia

The common fig (Ficus carica L.) is a fruit species traditionally cultivated in coastal Croatia. After some years of being of low commercial value, the interest in fig consumption and cultivation in this region seems to start following the increasing trend. One way of promoting fig consumption is to identify the varietal sensory properties, intending to match the consumer preferences. For this reason, the goal of this study was to evaluate sensory properties and pomological characteristics of fresh fruits of five dark (‘Šaraguja’, ‘Miljska’, ‘Crnica’, ‘Piombinese’, ‘Nero Rosso’) and three light-coloured (‘Petrovača bijela’, ‘Tiger’, ‘San Martino’) skin fig varieties, grown in Croatia. Figs were harvested from 5-years old trees in the fig experimental orchard located in Istria County (Croatia). Significant differences were observed for the properties of appearance, odour, flavour, and taste. Fresh fruits of varieties 'Šaraguja' and 'Tiger' reached the highest scores for the intensity of taste, fig odour, and flavour, compared to all the others. The highest values regarding fruit thickness and width were recorded from the variety 'Petrovača bijela', lenght from the variety 'Šaraguja', while 'San Martino' variety had the fruits of biggest weight. The variety 'Miljska' displayed the lowest values in all the observed pomological parameters. The importance of the pomological description and observation of sensory parameters of fresh figs lies in permitting the producers to decide the potential of each variety based on consumer preferences.

Ficus carica (common fig).

F. carica is a deciduous, small to medium-sized tree with a short, twisted trunk, thought to be native of South-West Asia, but now widely cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics. It grows best on medium to heavy well-drained soils, and suckers freely. Propagation is usually vegetative by cuttings or grafts, using selected horticultural cultivars.