During the winter of 2018, 3-years-old trees of avocado (Persea americana) cv “Hass” from Trapani province (Sicily, Italy) showed symptoms of stem and crown rot. Two different fungi were consistently isolated from infected tissues. Morphological characterization and multi-locus phylogenies using five genomic loci (ITS, tef1, tub2, his3, and rpb2) identified these fungi as Cylindrocladiella peruviana and Pleiocarpon algeriense. Pathogenicity tests on healthy 5-months-old seedlings and 3-year-old trees of avocado reproduced similar symptoms as those observed in nature, and Koch’s postulates were fulfilled for both pathogens. Moreover, the tested fungal isolates revealed a different pathogenic behaviour among two species. Two isolates of Pleiocarpon algeriense resulted more aggressive than Cylindrocladiella peruviana isolates causing major lesions on young seedlings. This study is the first to report of stem and crown rot on avocado caused by Cylindrocladiella peruviana and Pleiocarpon algeriense.

在2018年冬季，来自特拉帕尼省（意大利西西里岛）的鳄梨（Persea americana）简历“ Hass”的3岁树种表现出茎干和冠腐病的症状。从感染组织中始终分离出两种不同的真菌。使用五个基因组位点（ITS，tef1，tub2，his3和rpb2）的形态学表征和多位系统发育鉴定这些真菌为Cylindrocladiella peruviana和Pleiocarpon algeriense。对健康的5个月大的牛油果幼苗和3岁的鳄梨树进行的致病性测试与自然界中观察到的症状相似，并且两种病原体均符合科赫的假设。此外，测试的真菌分离物显示出两个物种之间的不同致病性行为。两个分离Pleiocarpon algeriense导致比更积极Cylindrocladiella peruviana菌株对幼苗造成重大损害。这项研究是第一次干和冠腐病的鳄梨造成报告Cylindrocladiella peruviana和Pleiocarpon algeriense。