More than 95% of bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso & Poit) essence production utilized in the international perfume industry comes from the coastal growing area in the Province of Reggio di Calabria in the Calabria Region of southern Italy. Fruit and leaf spots were observed on bergamot cv. Fantastico in some orchards during February and March 2001. Symptoms affected ≈20% of the fruits and resembled those caused by Septoria citri Pass. on lemon in the nearby Sicily Region (2). Symptoms on fruits were characterized by reddish-brown pits, 1 to 2 mm in diameter, often in proximity, and extending no deeper than the flavedo; or characterized by larger confluent brown spots, sunken and extending into the albedo. Leaf symptoms occurred on both sides of the blade and were characterized by irregular brown spots surrounded by a yellow halo. Spherical, dark-walled pycnidia were observed on brown spots on fruits. Pycnidia contained hyaline, nonseptate, or 1 to 3 septate, cylindrical conidia, rounded at the apex, measuring 8 to 18 × 1.5 to 2.0 μm (8 to 29 × 1.5 to 2.0 μm in pure culture), differing from the tapered conidia of S. citri. The fungus was subsequently identified as S. limonum Pass., a species first described in the 19th century on lemon in unheated glasshouses in northern Italy and later reported from other countries (3). It is still an open question whether S. limonum is distinct from S. citri. Previously, in fact, different species of Septoria from citrus have been considered synonyms of S. citri on the basis of isozyme electrophoretic phenotype (1). The fungus was isolated on artificial media from infected leaf and fruit tissues (pits and larger spots). Brown spot symptoms were reproduced by artificial inoculation of detached bergamot fruits. A spore suspension (1 × 106 spores per ml) of the fungus was sprayed on fruit wounded by a needle (1 mm in diameter) to a depth of 2 mm and washed in sterile water. After inoculation, the fruits were incubated 10 days at 22°C and 100% relative humidity. The fungus was reisolated from inoculated tissues. The damage caused by this disease appears to be more important on bergamot than on other citrus fruits since it affects oil-bearing tissue and consequently the production of essential oil.
References: (1) M. R. Bonde et al. Phytopathology 81:517, 1991. (2) S. Grasso and R. La Rosa. Riv. Patol. Veg. 19:15, 1983. (3) L. J. Klotz. Color Handbook of Citrus Diseases, 4th ed. University of California, Division of Agricultural Sciences, Berkeley, 1973.
