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Received: 23 November 2019    Revised: 29 February 2020    Accepted: 2 March 2020

DOI: 10.1111/jph.12893

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Pathogenicity of Epicoccum sorghinum towards dragon fruits

(Hylocereus species) and in vitro evaluation of chemicals with
antifungal activity

John Darby Taguiam | Edzel Evallo | Jennelyn Bengoa | Rodel Maghirang |

Mark Angelo Balendres

Institute of Plant Breeding, College of

Agriculture and Food Science, University
of the Philippines Los Baños, Los Baños,
Philippines
Correspondence
Mark Angelo Balendres, Institute of Plant
Breeding, College of Agriculture and Food
Science, University of the Philippines Los
Baños, Los Baños, Laguna 4031, Philippines.
Email: mobalendres@up.edu.ph
Funding information
Department of Agriculture-Bureau of
Agricultural Research (DA-BAR)
Abstract
Recent reports of plant diseases that result in yield reduction and increasing demand
for dragon fruits raise concerns of fruit supply shortage. Emerging plant diseases may
play an important role in increasing yield losses and reducing the availability of stem
cuttings (source of planting materials). Understanding the aetiology of current and
new diseases of dragon fruit is important to address production issues and to formu-
late effective disease control measures. This study reports Epicoccum sorghinum as a
potential emerging pathogen of dragon fruit. Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a was
isolated from dragon fruit stems (Hylocereus monacanthus) showing brown spot symp-
toms. DNA sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS-rDNA), beta tubulin and
actin gene regions of fungal isolate MBDF0024a had high similarities to E. sorghinum
stains. Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a was pathogenic to three cultivated dragon
fruit species (Hylocereus undatus, H. monacanthus and H. megalanthus) in repeated
laboratory and glasshouse trials. Large brown lesions developed on 3-week-old in-
oculated rooted stem cuttings 3 days postinoculation (dpi). Yellowing of the lesion
(advance part) started at five dpi, and at seven dpi, yellowing was observed in the
stem. As there are no reported control measures for diseases caused by E. sorghinum,
this study screened chemicals with antifungal properties. A biopesticide containing
B. subtilis (2  ml/400  ml), and chemicals isoprothiolane (2.25  ml/400  ml), mancozeb
(2 g/400 ml) and pyraclostrobin (1 ml/400 ml) (chemical control) completely inhibited
the in vitro growth of E. sorghinum MBDF0024a. The results establish E. sorghinum
as a new and emerging pathogen of dragon fruit that could be a major yield-limiting
disease if left uncontrolled. The biopesticide can be considered a fairly safe option
for disease management, but glasshouse and field studies are needed for validation.

KEYWORDS

Bacillus subtilis, Hylocereus megalanthus, Hylocereus monacanthus, Hylocereus undatus

1 |  I NTRO D U C TI O N due to the high-income potential as evident in the increase in area
devoted for dragon fruit (from 181.90  ha in 2012 to 449.50  ha in
Dragon fruit is a high-value crop that is grown worldwide. In the 2017), which consequently leads to more than 80% increase in the
Philippines, many growers have ventured into dragon fruit cultivation production (Eusebio & Alaban, 2018; PSA, 2018a, 2018b). However,

Journal of Phytopathology. 2020;00:1–8. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jph © 2020 Blackwell Verlag GmbH     1 |

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2       TAGUIAM et al.
harvests in waves and decline in yield raise concerns of dragon
fruit shortage. Diseases are among the most important factors that
have contributed to the decline in the yield of dragon fruit world-
wide (Balendres & Bengoa, 2019). Diseases of dragon fruit in the
Philippines are yet to be reported.
Researches are uncovering the devastating effects of new and
emerging pathogens on plants or crops. Recent studies suggest that
there are more dragon fruit diseases that are yet to be identified
and studied (Balendres & Bengoa, 2019). Emerging diseases may
play an important role in the rapid yield decline of dragon fruits and
may affect the supply of stem cuttings which are sources of planting
materials. Infected planting materials could assist in disease spread
from one farm to another. Understanding of current and new patho-
gens that infect dragon fruit is important in addressing production
issues caused by these pathogens. Identification of the pathogens
associated with the disease will also assist in formulating effective
and appropriate disease control measures.
In 2019, a diseased dragon fruit stem was observed in Los Baños,
Philippines. No disease is yet to be reported in dragon fruits in the
Philippines. The symptom did not resemble those commonly re-
ported in other countries, for example anthracnose and stem canker.
Hence, this study was aimed at identifying the pathogen associ-
ated with a stem disease of Hylocereusmonacanthus (pink-skin, red-
fleshed). Because of the disease was not previously reported, this
study also screened potential chemicals with antifungal properties
to the associated pathogen.
2 |  M ATE R I A L S A N D M E TH O DS
2.1 | Stem collection and fungal isolation
Stems of pink-skin, red-fleshed, dragon fruit, H. monacanthus, that
have irregular-shaped, necrotic, brown lesions were collected from
a dragon fruit plant grown in the research station of the Institute of
Plant Breeding (IPB), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB)
(14°09′10.59′′N, 121°15′47.25′′E, 20  m above sea level) in Los
Baños, Laguna. The IPB houses germplasm accessions of the three
commonly cultivated dragon fruit species (H. undatus, H. monacan-
thus and H. megalanthus).
The fungus was isolated by cutting a healthy and infected
2
(lesion) portion of the stem tissues into 3  mm blocks. The small
blocks were then surfaced sterilized in 10% sodium hypochlorite
(NaOCl) solution (v/v. Zonrox, Philippines) for 1 min, rinsed in ster-
ile distilled water for three times, air-dried on sterile tissue paper
and, finally, transferred or plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA)
medium (Himedia Laboratories Ltd., India). After 7  days, at room
temperature with 14  hr light in 24  hr cycle, 5  mm of the fungal
mycelial plug was purified and transferred to a new PDA medium.
The same fungus grew from the sample dragon fruit stem tissues.
The isolated fungus was designated as isolate MBDF0024a and
was deposited at the Fungal Repository of the Plant Pathology
Laboratory, IPB, UPLB.
2.2 | Fungus identification
Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a was identified by using a com-
bined morphological, cultural, and molecular identification tech-
niques (Cai et al., 2009). The fungus was transferred to a new PDA
medium for 7 days to assess its growth in the media and its morphol-
ogy under a light microscope. The form, colour, radial growth and
pigmentation of the mycelia were recorded at 7 days postincubation
at the same condition as indicated above. Morphological features
were examined under a microscope (Olympus CX22) and images
were analysed using the ImageJ software (Version 1.51s, Wayne
Rasband, National Institutes of Health). The morphology and cul-
tural features of the fungus showed characters of an Epicoccum sp.
However, since there are other species within this genus, and mor-
pho-cultural features are highly variable to the growing environment
of the fungus, a molecular identification technique was further used.
2.3 | PCR amplification and phylogenetic analysis
The fungal genomic DNA of the isolate MBDF0024a was extracted
using a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) extraction proce-
dure (Cullings, 1992; Doyle & Doyle, 1987). The DNA was then used
for the succeeding polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to amplify
the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), beta tubulin (TUB2) and the actin
(ACT) gene regions that will be used for subsequent DNA sequenc-
ing. For ITS, the PCR was performed in a MyCycler™ Thermal Cycler
(Bio-Rad, USA) in a 15-μl reaction volume, containing 1x PCR Buffer
(Invitrogen), 2.0 mM MgCl2 (Invitrogen), 0.2 mM dNTPs (Invitrogen),
0.2 μM each of the forward (ITS4, 5′-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC-3′)
and reverse (ITS5 (5′-GGAAGTAAAAGTCGTAACAAGG-3′) prim-
ers (White, Bruns, Lee, & Taylor, 1990), 1  U Taq DNA Polymerase
(Invitrogen), 2 μl of the fungal genomic DNA and DEPC water (Sigma)
to volume. The thermal cycling conditions were as follows: initial de-
naturation at 94°C for 5 min, followed by 24 cycles of denaturation
at 94°C for 45 s, annealing at 55°C for 45 s and extension at 72°C
for 1  min and a final extension at 72°C for 7  min. For TUB2 and
ACT, the PCR assay was performed using the method of Dela Cueva,
Mendoza, and Balendres (2018). All PCR product was resolved by
gel electrophoresis [1.5% agarose (Vivantis) 0.5X Tris-acetate-EDTA
buffer containing 2 μl GelRed solution (Biotium)] in PowerPac™ and
Sub-Cell GT (Bio-Rad Laboratories)], and the amplified product was
visualized using the GelDoc™ XR+ with Image Lab software (Bio-
Rad Laboratories). The PCR product was sent to Apical Scientific
Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia) for DNA sequencing. The consensus DNA se-
quence was then derived from the resultant forward and reverse
DNA sequences using the sequence editing software Geneious R9
(Biomatters, New Zealand). The consensus sequence of the ITS gene
region was compared with the DNA sequences of several Epicoccum
species and other closely related species (Table 1) used by Aveskamp,
Gruyter, Woudenberg, Verkley, and Crous (2010). A distance tree
was produced using BLAST pairwise alignment (neighbour-joining
tree method) with 1,000 bootstrap replication and was performed
TAGUIAM et al. |
      3

in the BLAST software. The comparison of the DNA sequences of

TA B L E 1   Strains from the Didymellaceae used for comparison the TUB2 and ACT gene regions was performed using the BLASTN
with DNA sequence of the ITS gene region of Epicoccum sorghinum program (Zhang, Schwartz, Wagner, & Miller, 2000) of NCBI.
MBDF0024a

Speciesa  Strainb  ITS Accession

Epicoccum nigrum CBS 125.82 FJ426995

2.4 | Pathogenicity assays
Epicoccum nigrum T CBS 173.73 FJ426996
The pathogenicity of E. sorghinum MBDF0024a was assessed in
Epicoccum pimprinum T CBS 246.60 FJ427049
detached stems (laboratory) and on rooted stem cuttings (glass-
Epicoccum pimprinum PD 77/1028 FJ427050
house) of three dragon fruit species. Pathogenicity using the patho-
Epicoccum sorghinum CBS 179.80 FJ427067
gen's spore suspension (wounded) and mycelial plug or agar block
Epicoccum sorghinum CBS 627.68 FJ427072
(wounded and unwounded) was also evaluated in both assays. In de-
Ascochyta hordei var. hordei CBS 544.74 GU237887 tached stem assays, a 10-cm long of healthy looking stems of H. un-
Boeremia crinicola B CBS 109.79 GU237737 datus, H. monacanthus and H. Megalanthus were surfaced sterilized in
Chaetasbolisia erysiphoides CBS 148.94 GU237785 10% (v/v) NaOCl solution, washed with distilled water and air-dried.
Didymella adianticola B CBS 187.83 GU237796 Stems were inoculated by dropping 15-μl spore suspension (˃10 8
Leptosphaerulina americana CBS 213.55 GU237799 spores) and placing a 5-mm mycelial block, from a 7-day-old culture,
Macroventuria anomochaeta T CBS 525.71 GU237881 on predetermined wounded (pricked by pipette tip to a depth ap-

Peyronellaea americana B CBS 185.85 FJ426972 proximately 1–2  mm) and unwounded sites. Sites inoculated with
sterile distilled water (SDW) and PDA medium plugs (without fungus)
Phoma boeremae T CBS 109.942 FJ426982
served as negative checks. Stems were placed in containers overlaid
Stagonosporopsis lupini B CBS 101.494 GU237724
with wet tissue paper (to provide humidity), and covered with plastic
a
T: Ex-type strain; B: Reference strain according to Boerema, Gruyter,
bags and were kept at room temperature. Disease development was
Noordeloos, & Hamers (2004).
b recorded at 3 dpi. The detached stem assay was performed thrice,
CBS: Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Utrecht, The
Netherlands, PD: Plant Protection Service, Wageningen, the and each assay was replicated three times.
Netherlands. In the glasshouse assay, the fungus was inoculated on 3-week-
Source: Aveskamp et al. (2010). old rooted stem cuttings of Hylocereus undatus, H. monacanthus and

(a) (b)

F I G U R E 1   (a) Diseased stem of

Hylocereus monacanthus from Los Baños,
Laguna, Philippines, (b) morphology and
(c) front and (d) back growth of Epicoccum
sorghinum MBDF0024a in PDA medium
7 days postincubation
(c) (d)
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4       TAGUIAM et al.
H. megalanthus. Spore suspension and mycelial plugs were inoculated
as similarly described in the detached stem assay. Plants inoculated
with SDW and PDA blocks (without fungus) served as the negative
checks. A transparent tape (approximately 2 × 2 cm) was placed in
the wounded area to cover the inoculated site. This avoided the
quick evaporation and the runoff of fungal spore suspension. The
tape was removed at 4 dpi, and the inoculated site remained moist.
Thus, it was considered to be an effective method in retaining the
spore suspension on the inoculated sites. The glasshouse assay was
performed thrice. Three replicate plants per dragon fruit species,
with each plant having three inoculation sites, were used. Symptom
development was assessed at 7 and 14 dpi.
The fungus was re-isolated from infected stems in both detached
and glasshouse assays using the same procedure as described above.
2.5 | Chemical assay
The response of the fungal isolate MBDF0024a to six chemicals (cit-
ronella essential oil, Bacillus subtilis, propamocarb, isoprothiolane, py-
raclostrobin and mancozeb) was assessed by in vitro trials using the
poisoned food method (Grover & Moore, 1962). Chemicals at their
recommended rate, according to the manufacturer, were amended
separately to the PDA medium. The 1.25 µl/ml concentration of cit-
ronella oil was based on the test done by Dela Cueva and Balendres
(2018). Five-mm mycelial plugs of a fungal isolate of 7-day-old E. sorghi-
num MBDF0024a were placed at the centre of the chemical-amended
and non-amended PDA medium. Radial growth was assessed when
the growth of the non-amended fungus has reached the edge of the
Petri plate. The in vitro chemical assay was performed twice, with each
assay having three replicate plates. Data were analysed by analysis of
variance (ANOVA) tests, and means were compared using the LSD test.
3 | R E S U LT S
3.1 | Characteristics of Epicoccum sorghinum
MBDF0024a
The isolated fungus from diseased dragon fruit stem (Figure  1a)
showed white to grayish mycelia with an average radial growth of
24 mm and 42 mm at 3 and 7 days postincubation, respectively. Pale
brown and globose conidia, measuring an average of 11.53 μm (30
conidia, ranging from 6.18 to 17.00  μm), were observed from the
7-day-old culture (Figure 1b). The fungus exhibited a reddish-brown
pigmentation in the PDA medium at 7  days postincubation that
was clear at the underside of the Petri plate (Figure  1c,d). Culture
and morphology characteristics resemble those of Epicoccum sp.
(Aveskamp et al., 2010). Using the primer pairs ITS4/ITSS,  a 533
base pair product was amplified by PCR. The DNA sequence of the
ITS gene region of the fungus (isolate MBDF0024a) showed a 100%
similarity to E. sorghinum strains CBS 179.80 and CBS 627.68, based
on the BLAST search. Using the authentic sequences of Epicoccum
and other related species, the DNA sequence of the ITS gene of
isolate MBDF0024a was aligned with the E. sorghinum (Figure  2).
The DNA sequences of TUB2 and ACT genes of MBDF0024a also
showed 99.62% and 100% similarity, respectively, to E. sorghinum
strains PD76/1025 (FJ42782) and CBS 301.89 (FJ426957).
F I G U R E 2   Distance tree generated
by neighbour-joining tree method using
the BLAST pairwise alignment in the
NCBI BLASTN program (Zhang et al.,
2000), with 1,000 bootsrap replicates,
of Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a
Philippine isolates compared with
authentic sequences of E. sorghinum and
other related species
TAGUIAM et al. |
      5

3.2 | Pathogenicity of Epicoccum sorghinum
MBDF0024a to Hylocereus species
Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a was pathogenic to the three
Hylocereus species in both the detached stems (Figure 3) and glass-
house trials (Figure 4). The disease developed as early as 3 dpi with
sunken brown necrotic spots around the inoculated sites. The dis-
ease developed only on wounded sites regardless of the inoculation
method (spore suspension or mycelial plugs) (Figure  5). However,
brown lesions developed in unwounded sites but only in the de-
tached stem assay using the fungus’ mycelial plugs (Figure  3). The
disease was severe in H. undatus (pink-skin, white-fleshed), then in
H. monacanthus (pink-skin, red-fleshed) and least in H. megalanthus
(yellow skin, white-fleshed) (Figure 4). Yellowing of the lesion started
at 5  dpi, but in H. undatus, rapid yellowing of stem was observed
from 5 or 7 dpi in all glasshouse trials (Figure 4). All stems eventually
turned yellow 4  weeks postinoculation, expect in H. megalanthus.
No infection was observed in all negative checks. The fungus was
re-isolated from the diseased tissues, and the isolated fungus was
identical to the inoculated fungus.
impact of dragon fruit diseases caused by E. sorghinum. While mul-
tiple studies have reported several fungal diseases of dragon fruits
(see Balendres & Bengoa, 2019), this study is the first to report the
pathogenicity of E. sorghinum to the three commonly cultivated
dragon fruit species (H. monacanthus, H. undatus and H. megalan-
thus), and the first to demonstrate that yellowing of the stem is also
caused by a fungus, not only by bacteria. Lastly, chemicals with in-
hibitory activity to E. sorghinum are demonstrated for the first time.
The results of this study show that dragon fruit growers should
also pay attention to diseases, other than those frequently reported.
The most frequently reported fungal diseases are anthracnose caused
by various Colletotrichum species (e.g. Meetum, Leksomboon, &
Kanjanamaneesathian, 2015), stem canker caused by Neoscytalidium

3.3 | Response of Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a

to chemicals

All chemicals significantly (p < .01) inhibited the growth of E. sorghi-

num MBDF0024a (Table 2). Growth of E. sorghinum MBDF0024awas
completely inhibited in PDA medium containing a biopesticide
(2 ml/400 ml B. subtilis QST strain), the mancozeb (2 g/400 ml), the
pyraclostrobin (1 ml/400 ml) and the isoprothiolane (2.25 ml/400 ml)
(Table 2). Fungal growth was almost completely reduced in the PDA
medium amended with citronella oil (1.25 µl/ml). Fungal growth was
reduced in the PDA medium containing the chemical propamocarb
(1.60 ml/400 ml) but only by 34%.

(a) (b) (c)

4 | D I S CU S S I O N

The results of this study highlight three key informations that war-
rant further attention. First, the pathogen isolated from the diseased
stem of dragon fruit, Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a, has not
been previously reported and none is known of its epidemiology and
management in dragon fruit. The findings further support the hy-
pothesis (Balendres & Bengoa, 2019) that there are more pathogens
associated with dragon fruit diseases that are yet unreported and
uninvestigated. Second, none of the commonly cultivated Hylocereus (d) (e) (f)
species were resistant to the stem disease caused by E. sorghinum, of
which after 7 days the disease can severely damage the stem, lead-
ing to collapse in succeeding weeks. In contrary to the commonly F I G U R E 3   Pathogenicity of Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a
to wounded (W) and unwounded (UW) stems of Hylocereus
associated pathogens, which are bacteria, the fungus E. sorghinum
monacanthus (a and d), H. undatus (b and e) and H. megalanthus (c
MBDF0024 has been found to also induce yellowing of the stem.
and f) using mycelial plugs (upper photos) and spore suspension
Finally, as controls are not yet available, chemicals used in this study (lower photos) in detached stem assays
can be further used for field evaluation to mitigate the negative
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6       TAGUIAM et al.
F I G U R E 4   Pathogenicity of Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a to rooted stem cuttings of Hylocereus monacanthus, H. undatus and
H. megalanthus at 3 and 7 days postinoculation in glasshouse assays
F I G U R E 5   Response of Hylocereus monacanthus (left), H. undatus
(middle) and H. megalanthus (right) to Epicoccum sorghinum
MBDF0024a mycelial plug and spore suspension in glasshouse
assays
dimidiatum (Sanahuja, Lopez, & Palmateer, 2016) and stem diseases
caused by several Fusarium species (e.g. Mohd Hafifi, Kee, & Mohd,
2019) and these fungal diseases are commonly associated with
Hylocereus monacanthus and H. undatus (see review of Balendres &
Bengoa, 2019). The diseased stem collected from this study looks
like it was caused by Nigrospora species due to the reddish-brown
or brown spots. Without a thorough examination, a grower could
spray chemicals that might not work against the pathogen. A thor-
ough examination, using a combined morpho-cultural, pathogenicity
and molecular approach, revealed that the stem disease was caused
by E. sorghinum. The morphological characteristics of E. sorghinum
MBDF0024a resemble features of E. sorghinum in China (Lin et al.,
2015). There was, however, a variation in symptoms of the initial
sample and that of the inoculated sample. Nevertheless, the fungus
was consistently isolated from these infected tissues (which were
surfaced sterilized by sodium hypochlorite solution) and it was con-
sistently shown to cause large brown lesions on inoculated stems.
This is the first time that E. sorghinum has been isolated from stems of
dragon fruit and, thus, increasing the understanding of the aetiology
of dragon fruit diseases. To our knowledge, while its related Phoma
species have been recorded (Tangonan & Quebral, 1992), this is also
the first record of a Philippine isolate of E. sorghinum. This pathogen
is hosted by several plant species, of which some are present in the
country. Since dragon fruit cultivation is relatively new in the coun-
try, it is possible that E. sorghinum MBDF0024a was cross-infected to
dragon fruit from a still unknown host plant. Investigating cross-in-
fection potential and pathogen virulence to various known and un-
known host-plant species could provide valuable information of the
origin, biology and spread of E. sorghinum in the country.
Epicoccum species are also capable of causing disease in dif-
ferent plants. For example, E. sorghinum (De Oliveira et al., 2017)
TAGUIAM et al.
TA B L E 2   Response (radial growth) of Epicoccum sorghi
MBDF0024a to different chemicals
Mean radial
Treatment growth (mm)1  is pathogenic to the three commonly cultivated dragon fruits
PDA only (Control) 20 (0.45)
PDA + propamocarb (1.60 ml/400 ml) 13.17 (0.65)b
PDA + citronella essential oil (1.25 μl/ml) 3.83 (1.83)
PDA + B. subtilis QST strain (2 ml/400 ml) 0 (0.00)d
PDA + pyraclostrobin (1 ml/400 ml) 0 (0.00)d
PDA + isoprothiolane (2.25 ml/400 ml) 0 (0.00)d
PDA + mancozeb (2 g/400 ml) 0 (0.00)d
1
Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different
at 0.05 level of significance by LSD test. Values in parenthesis are
standard error of means (n = 6).
has been reported to cause twisting and curling of crown leaves
of Saccharum officinarum (Lin et al., 2015), grain mould and root
pathogen in Sorghum bicolor (Stokholm et al., 2016), and leaf spot of
Nicotiana tabacum (Yuan, Liao, Tang, Li, & Lin, 2016), Bletilla striata
(Zhou et al., 2018), Oxalis debilis (Chen, Wang, & Luo, 2017), Camellia
sinensis (Bao et al., 2019) and Colocasia esculenta (Liu et al., 2018).
Moreover, E. sorghinum produces a mycotoxin (tenuazonic acid)
that causes acute toxicity to humans and other organisms when
consumed as food or feed (De Oliveira et al., 2017). The Philippine
isolate of E. sorghinum MBDF0024a was pathogenic to the three
dragon fruit species (Hylocereus monacanthus, H. undatus and H. me-
galanthus). Regardless of the fungal source, mycelial plugs or spore
suspension, severe disease developed on wounded stems but not
on unwounded sites. Thus, wounding is critical to successful patho-
genicity of E. sorghinum in Hylocereus species. Plants that belong to
Cactaceae family, such as dragon fruit, thrive and grow better in hot
environmental conditions.
As there is no control yet for plant pathogenic E. sorghinum,
six chemicals were assessed for their antifungal property. The
biopesticide with B. subtilis (2  ml/400  ml) and fungicides pyr-
aclostrobin at 1  ml/400  ml, isoprothiolane (2.25  ml/400  ml) and
mancozeb (2  g/400  ml) strongly inhibited the growth of E. sorgh-
inum MBDF0024a in vitro. Bacillus subtilis has known antifungal
properties against a range of plant pathogens such as Rhizoctonia
solani, Helminthosporium spp., Alternaria spp., Fusarium oxysporum
(Matar et al., 2009), Botrytis cinerea and Colletotrichum acutatum
(Arroyave-Toro, Mosquera, & Villegas-Escobar, 2017). In this study,
the biopesticide that contains B. subtilis also showed antifungal ef-
fect against E. sorghinum hi by completely inhibiting fungal growth.
With further field evaluation that would underpin its efficacy, the
biopesticide could be a fairly safe chemical that could be used to
control diseases caused by E. sorghinum. Despite its inhibitory po-
tential, phytotoxicity studies of citronella essential oil (1.25 µl/ml)
to dragon fruit are critical before actual field applications since
citronella oil at certain concentration is phytotoxic (Dela Cueva &
Balendres, 2018).
|
      7
5 | CO N C LU S I O N
This study has demonstrated that Epicoccum sorghinum MBDF0024a
a (Hylocereus species), resulting to severe stem disease. Further, op-
portunities for disease management using fairly safe chemicals (e.g.
c biopesticide containing B. subtilis) are presented. Nevertheless, de-
tail study on fungicide application and the use potential biocontrol
agent in disease management would be needed. The results suggest
that E. sorghinum is an emerging disease of dragon fruit and, if left
uncontrolled, could significantly affect dragon fruit production and
subsequently negatively affects the growers income.
AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S
We thank Rizalina Tiongco, Vangeline Linga and Fe Dela Cueva
for the technical assistance in the laboratory, and Ryan Tiongco
and Anthony Vicencio for assistance with glasshouse trials. This
study was supported by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of
Agricultural Research (DA-BAR). The Institute of Plant Breeding,
College of Agriculture and Food Science, University of the Philippines
Los Baños, has provided in-kind support. The views expressed in this
article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the
policies or positions of the University of the Philippines Los Baños
and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research
(DA-BAR).
C O N FL I C T O F I N T E R E S T
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
E T H I C A L A P P R OVA L
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or
animals performed by any of the authors.
ORCID
Mark Angelo Balendres  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8739-5858
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How to cite this article: Taguiam JD, Evallo E, Bengoa J,
Maghirang R, Balendres MA. Pathogenicity of Epicoccum
sorghinum towards dragon fruits (Hylocereus species) and in
vitro evaluation of chemicals with antifungal activity. J
Phytopathol. 2020;00:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/jph.12893