| Sumario: | Pomegranate (
Punica granatum L.) is an emerging crop in Italy and particularly in southern
regions, such as Apulia, Basilicata, and Sicily, due to favorable climatic conditions. The crop
is affected by several pathogenic fungi, primarily in the field, but also during postharvest
phas es. The most important postharvest fungal diseases in pomegranate are gray and blue
molds, black heart and black spot, anthracnose, dry rot, and various soft rots. The limited
number of fungicides allowed for treatment in the fi eld and the lack of postharvest fungicides
make it difficult to control latent, quiescent, and incipient fungal infections. Symptomatic
pomegranates from southern Italy were sampled and isolated fungi were morphologically and
molecularly characterized. The data obtained revealed that various species of Penicillium sensu
lato (including Talaromyces genus), Alternaria spp., Coniella granati , and Botrytis cinerea
were the main etiological agents of postharvest pomegranate fruit diseases; other relevant
pathoge ns, although less represented, were ascribable to Aspergillus sect. N i ger ,
Colletotrichum acutatum sensu stricto, and Cytospora punicae . About two thirds of the isolated
pathogens were responsible for latent infections. The results obtained may be useful in planning
phytosanitary control strategies from the field to storage, so as to reduce yield losses.
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