Diversity and Pathogenicity of Fungi Associated with Fruit Rot of Winter Jujube in Shandong Province, China.

Winter jujube originated from China and had an extremely high nutritional value. In 2021, symptomatic winter jujube fruits were collected from eight locations in Zhanhua District of Binzhou City, Shandong Province. In total, 108 fungal isolates were obtained and grouped into 11 species based on morphological characteristics and multilocus phylogenetic analysis, including (43.52%), (20.37%), (12.03%), (7.41%), (4.63%), (3.70%), sp. (2.78%), (2.78%), (1.85%), (0.93%), and (0.93%). All fungal isolates obtained in this study showed aggressiveness on detached winter jujube fruits except and isolates, of which was the most virulent, while isolates, which have been considered the major pathogen of winter jujube fruit rot, showed a relatively low-level virulence in this study. Furthermore, , , , and an unclassified species were first reported as causal agents of winter jujube fruit rot. The typical symptoms of winter jujube fruit rot observed in this study could be distinguished into two types. , , . , sp., , and isolates caused reddish brown to dark gray lesions on the peel, while , , and isolates caused peel and pulp decay, resulting in red to reddish brown and water-soaked lesions. In addition, haplotype analysis of isolates obtained in this study and validly published articles showed that there were 11 haplotypes worldwide; the isolates obtained in the current study were grouped into three haplotypes (Hap 1, Hap 2, and Hap 11), and two of them (Hap 2 and Hap 11) were confirmed as new haplotypes.