Neopestalotiopsis Leaf Blight, an Emerging Concern on Leatherleaf Fern in Indonesia

Abstract

Leatherleaf fern (<i>Rumohra adiantiformis</i>) is an important ornamental plant in Indonesia and global. Green fern leaves with bold dark green color with long shelf-life, attract florists as decoration. Indonesia is one important leatherleaf fern exporters, however currently an outbreak of leaf blight decreased production significantly. Initial symptom was reddish brown spots from edge of leaf, which was gradually followed by dark-brown necrotic lesions causing leaf blight and dried. This is a study to do Koch-Postulate approach and molecular identification, to identify the pathogen of the “new emerging disease” reported. Based on multigene analysis using primers from ITS, β-tub and tef1-α gene markers, the pathogen was identified as <i>Neopestalotiopsis</i> sp. All sequences have been deposited in GenBank with accession number of OR905551 (ITS), OR899817 (ß-tubulin) and OR899816 (TEF). This Neopestalotiopsis leaf blight causes an emerging concern in leatherleaf fern in Indonesia and global biosecurity because it infected an export commodity.