Phytophthora-Induced Diseases on Citrus in Jeju Island

Phytophthora-induced diseases on citrus in Jeju island have been considered of minor importance because of the use as root stock of trifoliate orange, which is immune to Phytophthora. However, brown rot on fruit, which severely occurred in 1998 and 1999, has become a great threat to citrus production in the island. About one-half of the surveyed orchards were infected in 1998 and 4 out of 19 infected fields showed over 20% fruit infection rate. The disease was less severe in 1999, with an estimated infected area and total fruit reduction of 3,155 ha and 15,300 tons, respectively. Typical gummosis was also occasionally observed on cv. Shiranugi, which is mostly cultivated under plastic film houses. Two types of Phytophthora were consistently isolated from various plant parts, identified as P. citrophthora and P. nicotianae. The former was isolated from the aerial parts of the fruit, young leaf, and shoot in the fields. Meanwhile, the latter was only isolated from the basal stem showing gummosis in plastic film houses.