Fungi in the apple sooty blotch and flyspeck complex from Serbia and Montenegro

Abstract

Sooty blotch and flyspeck (SBFS) is a late season disease complex of apple and pear caused by epiphytic fungi that blemish the fruit surface, resulting in economic losses in humid regions worldwide. The SBFS disease complex includes more than 60 species of fungi in eastern North America, but species in many other parts of the world have not been identified. From August to October 2007, SBFS-infested apple fruits were collected from 14 orchards in central and southern Serbia and Montenegro. Colony morphology and sequences of the internally transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were assessed for 92 SBFS isolates and compared to previously identified species. From the four SBFS genera that were found in Serbia and Montenegro - Pseudocercosporella, Schizothyrium, Peltaster and Pseudocercospora - five putative species were identified. Most (72 of 92) isolates were Pseudocercosporella spp. All of these species have also been isolated from infested apples and described in North America or Germany.