First Report of Fruit Rot of Snake Fruit (Salacca zalacca) Caused by Thielaviopsis euricoi Based on Morphological and Phylogenetic Analyses

Snake fruit (Salacca zalacca (Gaertner) Voss) is renowned for its taste and nutritional value; however, the snake fruit rot diseases caused by fungal pathogens can lead to significant economic losses. In this study, a fungal isolate was obtained from the rotten snake fruit with brown rot symptoms at the fruit apex upon removal of the peel. The causal agent was identified as Thielaviopsis species based on cultural and morphometric characteristics. Multi-locus phylogenetic analyses of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α) and beta-tubulin (tub2) genes revealed that the isolates Te 5742 clustered within Thielaviopsis euricoi Bat. & A. F. Vital. Furthermore, pathogenicity tests fulfilled Koch’s postulates, confirming T. euricoi as the pathogen responsible for the observed rot. This is the first report of T. euricoi causing fruit rot on snake fruit worldwide and will provide information on monitoring and management of snake fruit diseases in the garden and market.