First report of Fusarium equiseti and Lasiodiplodia theobromae infection in local Malaysian papaya (Carica papaya L).

Papaya (Carica papaya) is considered one of the main tropical fruits eaten worldwide. In Malaysia, it is widely cultivated with a production of more than 50,000 t in 2018. In 2019, dark brown and whitish sunken rot symptoms were observed on papaya fruits in two locations in Selangor, Malaysia. Morphological patterns of both fungi isolates were observed in the cultured potato dextrose agar (PDA) plate. At the molecular level, internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions 1 and 2 of both fungal isolates were amplified by PCR and sequenced. The sequences revealed Fusarium equiseti with GenBank accession No. MN335223.1 and Lasiodiplodia theobromae with GenBank accession No. MN335222.1. To fulfil Koch's postulates, both fungi were re-isolated and used for the pathogenicity test on separated fruits. Symptoms similar to those observed started to appear on all inoculated fruits; control fruits remained symptomless. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of Fusarium equiseti at the species level, and Lasiodiplodia theobromae at the molecular level infecting papaya in Malaysia.