Current status and impact mango malformation in Egypt

A survey was conducted in 1998 to determine the status and impact of mango malformation in Egypt. In the El Giza, Ismailîa and Sharkaia Governerates, disease incidence and severity ranged from 20 to 100% and from 5 to 60%, respectively. In contrast, 75 km to the south in the El Faiyûm Governerate, incidence and severity were lower, 3-5 and 0.1 to <1%, respectively. Based on these figures and recent production statistics, it is estimated that malformation causes losses in Egypt of at least £E35 million/year. When malformation was managed in El Giza, Ismailîa and Sharkaia by removing affected vegetative and floral terminals, the mean disease incidence and severity were lower than in non-managed orchards (69 versus 29% and 29 versus 6%, respectively). Thirty-nine isolates of the pathogen, Fusarium mangiferae, recovered during the survey were sexually incompatible with the B, C and D mating populations of the Gibberella fujikuroi complex; 10 of these were also incompatible among themselves. Four vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) were detected among 43 of the isolates from this and a previous survey. VCG was generally not correlated with farm, governerate or host cultivar, and in three instances, isolates from two different VCGs were recovered from the same tree. RAPD analyses divided isolates into two genetically distinct clusters: Group I contained isolates in VCGs 1, 2 and 4; Group II contained isolates in VCG 3. The VCG and RAPD data support the conclusion that isolates of the pathogen from the Nile Delta were probably responsible for the recent appearance of the disease in El Faiyûm.