First report of secondary leaf fall in rubber trees caused by Phyllosticta capitalensis in the Eastern Plains of Colombia

Rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis) are planted on 65,545 hectares in Colombia (Minagricultura, 2021). Since September 2020, unusual leaf spots were observed on mature leaves of rubber trees (clones RRIM 600 and FX 3864), in three plantations in the Eastern Plains region. Sporulation was induced on a parboiled rice medium (Figure 2b) under controlled conditions (12 hr photoperiod, relative humidity 50%, 26 ±2°C). Phylogenetic analysis of Phyllosticta species based on a combined dataset of ITS, ACT and TEF1 gene regions using MEGA X. The analysis was conducted using the maximum likelihood method bootstrapped at 1,000 replicates.