Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Applied Fruit Science, cilt.67, sa.4, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Banana cultivation in Türkiye covers around half of the country’s demand. The expansion of greenhouse production throughout the country has significantly increased both the yield and quality of bananas, but has also led to the emergence of new fungal diseases that affect banana fruits in cultivation areas. During the surveys conducted in 2022, symptoms of sour rot were detected on the tips of immature banana fruits in Arsuz district of Hatay province in Türkiye. The prevalence of the disease was recorded to be 20.83%, with an incidence rate of 8% and 25% in the greenhouses surveyed. Initially, small water-soaked lesions appeared on immature finger tips, which were later covered with white, fluffy mycelium. The yeast-like fungus was isolated from disinfected diseased fruit tissue on potato sucrose agar (PSA). Morphological analysis revealed characteristics consistent with Geotrichum candidum. Identification was further confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) protein profiling and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. Representative isolates (GcM3 and GcM 5) exhibited 100% genetic similarity to G. candidum strains. Pathogenicity tests on surface disinfected immature banana fruits cv. ‘Anamur Azmanı’ confirmed the symptoms observed in naturally infected fruits. Re-isolation from symptomatic fruits confirmed the pathogen’s presence. While G. candidum has previously been documented on different Musa spp. in Brazil, South Africa, and China, this is the first confirmed report of G. candidum causing sour rot on banana fruits grown in Türkiye.