Current Status of Cocoa Frosty Pod Rot Caused by Moniliophthora roreri and a Phylogenetic Analysis

Cocoa is an important crop in tropical climates in America. Nevertheless, cocoa farmers are affected by many fungal diseases of which the frosty pod rot is one of the biggest obstacles for this crop. The causal agent of this disease is Moniliophthora roreri, specialized pathogenic fungus that invades actively growing cocoa pods of Theobroma cacao and related species of gender Theobroma and Herrania. In cocoa pods M. roreri can cause different symptoms or combinations of these. Fruits appear sporadically that appear healthy but are internally damaged, which are recognized being heavier. The M. roreri is able to develop a complete cycle on an average of 183 days, reaching a high incidence of the disease due to the fungus ability to infect all stages of fruit development. Frosty pod rot can cause damage up to 80% in production and has become the principal parasitic limitation for cocoa production in Mexico and other countries, reason for which have been carried out studies on its temporal progress and management. Currently, there is not much updated and scientific information about its occurrence, symptomatology, etiology, epidemiology, life cycle, strategies of control, management of that disease and molecular characterization, so this review is done with these important topics, bringing with it to this area of knowledge.