First report of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on citrus in Algeria

Wither-tip symptoms of twigs were observed on cultivated sweet orange and lemon trees in Algeria. The causal agent was identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides on the basis of cultural and morphological features. The identification of the fungus was confirmed by sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region of rDNA. Pathogenicity tests revealed that C. gloeosporioides isolated from withered twigs caused typical anthracnose symptoms on orange leaves. This is the first report on Colletotrichum gloeosporioides as causal agent of anthracnose in Citrus trees in Algeria.