Morphological and pathogenic characterization of Pestalotiopsis spp. pathogen of hazelnut in Serbia

Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) is an economically very important fruit species cultivated in many countries. The world's largest producer and exporter of hazelnuts is Turkey. In Serbia, compared to other types of fruit, hazelnuts are grown on significantly smaller areas. In the last decade, hazelnut has become more interesting for the producers and there is a growing trend of increase of areas under this crop. Hazelnut is the host of numerous pathogens and pests that can cause significant economic damage in orchards. To date, there has been no comprehensive research on the causes of hazelnut diseases in Serbia, and the goal of our work was to determine the causes of some fungal diseases. In the period from 2017 to 2020, samples of hazelnut leaves and branches with symptoms of necrotic spotting were collected from a large number of plantations in Serbia. A large number of isolates were isolated from the collected samples for further determination. Based on the morphological and pathogenic properties of the isolates, the presence of phytopathogenic fungi from the genus Pestalotiopsis was determined.