Colony characters (Fig. 1): Distinct
morphology on PDA was observed in each
group after 7 days. Colonies produced by
isolates from Group 1 varied from pale
yellowish to pinkish with dense whitish-grey
aerial mycelium and a few bright orange
conidial masses near the inoculum point.
Isolates from Group 2 produced greyish green,
not when first colour is qualified as greyish
colonies in the centre, with sparse white aerial
mycelium, green in reverse and orange conidial
masses near the inoculum point. Colonies
produced by isolates from Group 3 varied from
grey to dark grey with dense pale grey aerial
mycelium.
Growth rate (Table 4): There was a
statistically significant difference in growth
rates among the 34 isolates. Isolates of
Colletotrichum Group 3 (10.72 ± 0.53 mm day
grew significantly faster, followed by Group 1
(9.12 ± 1.95 mm/day) and Group 2 (5.09 ± 0.38
mm/day) (P = 0.05).
Conidia morphology (Fig. 1): Conidia
produced by isolates of Colletotrichum Group
1 varied from fusiform with obtuse to slightly
rounded ends to sometimes oblong. Colletotrichum
Group 2 produced cylindrical conidia
with obtuse ends (oblong) with narrowing at
the centre. Colletotrichum Group 3 produced
cylindrical conidia with obtuse to slightly
rounded ends. There were statistically significant
differences in length and width of conidia
among the three groups (Table 4).
Appressoria morphology: There was little
distinction among the groups in size and shape
of appressoria. Appressoria shape produced by
slide cultures varied from ovoid, clavate or
slightly irregular to irregular in shape (Table 4,
Fig. 1).