Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Endophytic Fungi Associated with Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) in India

Aim: To identify cocoa associated endophytic fungi through morphological and molecular techniques.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Plant Pathology, TNAU, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu from April 2018 to November 2019.

Methodology: Endophytic fungal isolates were isolated from different parts of cocoa using Petrini method. Isolated endophytic fungal strains were grown in Malt extract broth and total genomic DNA was isolated and amplified using universal primers ITS1F and ITS4R. Amplified rDNA was visualized and documented.

Results: Morphological and molecular characterization of six endophytic fungi revealed that they are from four different taxa viz., Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae PAK-7, Arthrinium rasikravindrae P11, Arthrinium rasikravindrae P12, Diaporthe sp. Vef-3, Lasiodiplodia theobromae TN-R-3, Colletotrichum sp. TN-9-2 belonging to four different families viz., Botryosphaeriaceae, Apiosporaceae, Diaporthaceae and Glomorellaceae under Phylum Ascomycota.

Conclusion: The present study indicates the distribution and diversity of fungal endophytes in different plant parts of the cocoa tree in south India.