First Report of Anthracnose on Bitter Gourd Caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in Korea

Anthracnose occurred in bitter gourd grown in Jeongup areas of Korea in 2011. Anthracnose of bitter gourd appeared as dark brown circular spots on naturally infected leaves and fruits. The symptoms of infected leaves and fruits were small brown to dark brown spots and gradually enlarged to larger cylindrical dark brown lesions. The causal fungus of anthracnose isolated from the diseased plants was identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides based on the morphological and cultural characteristics and ITS rDNA sequence analysis. All isolates of C. gloeosporioides produced symptoms on the host leaves by artificial inoculation. This is the first report of anthracnose on bitter gourd caused by C. gloeosporioides in Korea.