DIVERSITY OF FUNGAL COMMUNITIES INHABITING SYMPTOMATIC LEAVES OF CAPE GOOSEBERRY (PHYSALIS PERUVIANA) IN THE ECUADORIAN ANDES

We used microbial culture specific methods to assess the occurrence and diversity of fungal communities inhabiting symptomatic foliar tissue of Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) at four different field plots in the northern Ecuadorian Andes. We categorized the isolated fungi based on their morphological characteristics and subsequently identified them through rDNA sequencing of the ITS region. We recovered 75 ascomycetous isolates which represented 13 genera, revealing a total of 20 taxa. We found most isolates recovered from necrotic and straw-colored tissues to belong to the genus Alternaria. Other fungal taxa frequently found were Epicoccum, Diaporthe, and Xylaria. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report the mycobiota associated to P. peruviana plants showing disease symptoms, including 2 new genera of fungi for the first time in Ecuador. Our results are expected to provide useful information for future assessments of biological control on tropical commercial.