Severe Spotting of Fresh Market Tomato Fruit Incited by Corynespora cassiicola After Storm-related Injury. Ray B. Volin, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, IFAS, Tropical Research and Education Center, Homestead 33031. Ken Pohronezny, and Gary W. Simone. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, IFAS, Tropical Research and Education Center, Homestead 33031, and Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, IFAS, Gainesville 32611. Plant Dis. 73:1018-1019. Accepted for publication 6 July 1989. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1989. DOI: 10.1094/PD-73-1018.

During the 1982–1983 winter growing season, a severe spotting of mature green tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) fruit occurred in South Florida. Symptoms were associated with high winds and heavy rains accompanying a storm. Lesions on wounded fruit surfaces appeared as small necrotic pits or freckles. Although other fungi (Alternaria alternata, A. solani, and Stemphylium spp.) were recovered occasionally, Corynespora cassiicola was isolated most frequently and consistently. Pathogen morphology and conidial measurements for isolates recovered from lesions were consistent with those reported for C. cassiicola. Fruit infection on the cultivar Duke occurred through wounds on the epidermis but not through unwounded tissue.