Association between Alternaria macrospora and Alternaria alternata, causal agents of cotton leaf blight

Abstract

The association between Alternaria macrospora and Alternaria alternata, responsible for the development of alternaria blight disease in cotton, was evaluated in artificially inoculated greenhouse plants and in naturally infested field plants. When greenhouse plants were inoculated with suboptimal doses of both pathogens (< 1.2 × 104 spores/mL) infection was greater than when separately inoculated by each pathogen at optimal dosage. In field-grown, naturally infected plants (Gossypium barbadense), both pathogens were found together in more than 40% of the plants. A second field-grown cotton species (Gossypium hirsutum) exhibited infection mainly by either A. alternata or both pathogens together. When both cotton species were naturally infected by both pathogens together, the number of A. alternata spores (either airborne or on the leaf surface) was greater than that of A. macrospora. We propose that A. macrospora together with A. alternata create a disease composite responsible for alternaria blight symptoms in cotton. Key words: Alternaria, cotton diseases, Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium hirsutum.