First report of Trichothecium roseum causing pink mould on strawberry fruit in Iran

Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) is one of the most important fruit crops, worldwide. In June 2023, strawberry fruits with pink mould symptoms were collected from a storage facility in Khorasan Razavi province of Iran. Trichothecium roseum was isolated from symptomatic fruit and identified through morphological characteristics. Molecular identification was carried out based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) using ITS1 and ITS4 primers. Pathogenicity was confirmed according to Koch's postulates. Cell wall-degrading enzyme secretion was investigated as a potential factor in fungal pathogenicity. The results of morphological identification, ITS analysis and pathogenicity test indicated that the causal agent was T. roseum. Enzyme activity assays revealed that T. roseum obtained from strawberry with a high level of aggressiveness was able to secrete cellulase and pectinase. To our knowledge, this is the first report of post-harvest pink mould of strawberry caused by T. roseum in Iran.