Sensibilidade de isolados de Lasiodiplodia theobromae de mamoeiros do nordeste brasileiro a tiofanato metílico

Abstract

Stem rot caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae is an important postharvest disease of papaya in Brazil. The disease symptoms start on the stem region and then progressing around the fruit. The tissues remain with soaked aspect and with progression of symptoms, lesions become dark brown and depressed. The infected area becomes gradually devoid of parenchymal tissue and fruits lose their consistency and strength. It is recommended that the disease control starts in the field and continue until the commercialization phase since the symptoms are difficult to be perceived until an advanced stage of maturation. The use of Fungicides is one of the main disease management measures. However, there are no data available on the sensitivity of L. theobromae to thiophanate methyl, the most common fungicide used in papaya orchards in Northeastern Brazil. Thus, the EC50 of 109 isolates of the fungus, representing five populations of the pathogen was estimated in vitro for the fungicide. Of the 109 isolates, 20,2% were non-sensitive (NS) to the fungicide with EC50 values greater than 300 mg ml-1, for the remaining 79.8% sensitive (S) isolates the average EC50 was 1.87 μg ml−1. The EC50 values for the NS isolates were significantly (P≤0.05) higher than those for the sensitive isolates. Seven components of fitness were measured for the 10 isolates with lower and high values of EC50. When the fitness components were evaluated, the non-sensitive (NS) isolates showed sporulation capacity significantly lower than the sensitive isolates, indicating a fitness costs.