Diaporthe hispaniae causes leaf black spot disease of kiwi crop in Guizhou Province, China

Kiwi is an important commercial fruit crop in China. Leaf spot diseases of kiwi caused by fungal pathogens seriously affect the growth of the fruit tree. In 2023, large areas of kiwi leaves suffered by black spot disease were observed in an orchard in Guizhou Province, China. A total of 230 leaves of twenty-five kiwi trees were randomly investigated, and the incidence of leaves with black spot symptoms was 19.13%. The disease caused leaf defoliation, leading to the significant reduction of quality and economic value of kiwifruits. The morphological characteristics, phylogeny based on the sequences of ITS, tub2, his3, cal and tef1 genes and pathogenicity of the disease-associated fungus were described in this study, confirmed Diaporthe hispaniae as the causal agent of leaf black spot disease of kiwi in Guizhou Province, China. Results in this study revealed the potential threat of D. hispaniae as a fungal pathogen to kiwi crop cultivation. Further researches, such as monitoring pathogen population and screening of effective fungicides, are required to develop effective strategy to control the kiwi leaf black spot disease caused by D. hispaniae.