First Report of Heart Rot of Pomegranate ( Punica granatum ) Caused by Alternaria alternata in Italy

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), native to central Asia, has been cultivated in Italy since ancient times, but has only recently become a commercial fruit crop. In 2008, its cultivation extended 7 ha and in 2013 was over 130 ha. The prevalent cultivar is 'Wonderful' and major producing regions are Apulia, Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria, and Latium. In the provinces of Catania and Syracuse (eastern Sicily), in September and October 2013 and 2014, in several commercial orchards of 'Wonderful' a fruit disease with an incidence of 1 to 9% was observed. Isolations from infected tissues on potato carrot agar (PCA) with 500 mg/liter of streptomycin sulfate gave consistently sooty black and turfy fungal colonies identified as Alternaria sp. on the basis of conidia morphology. To our knowledge, this is the first report of heart rot in Italy. This disease is a serious concern for expanding pomegranate industry also due to the difficulty in screening infected fruit on the basis of external symptoms.