First Record of Passalora Blight Caused by Passalora malkoffii on Anise Crop in Syria

Youssef, R.N., H.A. Khalil, N.A. Bdour, O.M. Salloum and R.M. Salloum. 2024. First Record of Passalora Blight Caused by Passalora malkoffii on Anise Crop in Syria. Arab Journal of Plant Protection, 42(1): 9-12. https://doi.org/10.22268/AJPP-001207 Passalora blight caused by Passalora malkoffii (Bubák) U. Braun fungus is a pathogen that causes economic losses to anise in its cultivated areas. In the spring of 2021, disease was observed in anise fields in western Hama, Syria. The symptoms appeared as dark sectorial necrotic spots on the upper surface of the leaves and dense, velvety growths of grayish-white color on the underside, and dark spots on the stem and petioles and dark elongated spots appeared on the fruits. Microscopy of infected samples showed that the pathogen is Passalora malkoffii (Bubák) U. Braun. The pathogen did not grow on potato dextrose agar (PDA) culture although spores were dense in the samples. Very few plants grown from infected seeds showed typical symptoms of reddish-brown sectorial spots on a limited number of leaves but no fungal growth was observed. Based on the results of this study and previously published information, this is possibly the first record of passalora blight on anise in Syria and in the Arab region.