2. Materials and methods
2.1. Isolation of the pathogen and inoculum preparation
Banana fruits showing anthracnose disease symptoms were
collected from a local market in Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia and
were used for isolation ofC. musae. The pathogen was identified
based on gross colony morphology and microscopic characters.
Pure culture was maintained in PDA slants. Inoculum was prepared
by using the conidia of 10-day-old cultures of the pathogen incubated at 28
C. The conidia were dislodged from the surface of the
PDA medium in 15-cm-diameter Petri dishes byflooding with
sterile distilled water and gently rubbing with a sterile glass rod.
The conidial suspension obtained wasfiltered through a double
layer of muslin cloth to remove mycelial fragments. The spore
suspension ofC. musaewas adjusted with sterile distilled water
containing 0.01% Tween-80 to 10
6
conidia mL
1
using a
hemacytometer