Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch.) is an economically important horticultural crop. This study reports a new pathogen of brown leaf spot disease in kiwifruit. Brown leaf spot symptoms were observed on the leaves of cv. Redvita in Jeju, South Korea. The leaf spot diseases appeared as extensive, angular, brown, yellow, white or fused color spots on the leaves. Fungi were isolated and identified as Fusarium tricinctum (Corda) Sacc. based on their morphological and molecular characteristics. Pathogenicity tests were conducted with mycelium and the conidia inoculation. The pathogen was re-isolated from the artificially developed symptoms, and identified as F. tricinctum as Koch’s postulates were confirmed. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the brown leaf spot caused by F. tricinctum on kiwifruit.

Postharvest apple rot causes severe economic losses and lowers apple quality, and is one of the most important limiting factors of apple exports. Apples with rot symptoms were sampled from Geochang, South Korea. Isolation of the causal fungus was performed by culturing small pieces of diseased tissues on potato dextrose agar. Two different rot genera, Fusarium and Alternaria, were identified according to their morphological characteristics. To confirm the identity of the causal fungus, we sequenced the DNA of the complete internal transcribed spacer(ITS) rDNA gene region and translation elongation factor 1-alpha(EF1-α) region. Koch’s postulates were supported by pathogenicity tests conducted on apple fruit. Based on mycological characteristics, molecular identification, and pathogenicity tests, the two fungi were identified as Fusarium tricinctum and Alternaria alternata. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of postharvest apple rot caused by F. tricinctum and A. alternata in South Korea.