Characterization of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Neopestalotiopsis ellipsospora causing leaf spot and blight diseases of cinnamon in high humid tropic region of western Ghats

Cinnamon, valued for its antibacterial and pharmacological properties, is a vital spice crop used extensively in food processing, medicine, and agriculture. Infected cinnamon leaves displaying symptoms of leaf spot and blight were gathered from three districts in Karnataka. Disease incidence ranged from 50 to 70% across different locations. Thirteen samples were isolated using standard tissue isolation methods, and their fungal identity was confirmed through micro-morphological and cultural characteristics, along with multilocus gene analysis (ITS, SSU, and LSU segments of rRNA). Sequence analysis identified four isolates as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and nine as Neopestalotiopsis ellipsospora, with nucleotide similarities of 99–100% to known species in the NCBI database. Concatenated sequence comparison of ITS, SSU, and LSU segments confirmed > 98% nucleotide identity with previously documented C. gloeosporioides and N. ellipsospora isolates. Phylogenetic analysis further supported the close clustering of these isolates with their respective species affecting various crops.