First report of a stylar end rot disease of guava fruits caused by Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae in Ghana

An investigation was conducted to identify the causal agent of a new stylar end rot disease affecting guava ( Psidium guajava L.) fruits in Ghana. Symptomatic fruits were collected at random from fields in the Eastern region of Ghana. and fungal isolates were identified based on cultural and morphological characteristics, supported by sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α) regions. Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae was consistently isolated and confirmed as pathogenic through Koch's postulates, producing similar symptoms on inoculated fruits. Phylogenetic analysis clustered the isolates with reference L. pseudotheobromae strains with high bootstrap support (99 %). This represents the first report of L. pseudotheobromae associated with guava stylar end rot in Ghana, warranting inclusion in the country's plant disease checklist.