‘Dead skin’ on yams (Dioscorea alata) caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides

Abstract

A storage rot of yams (Dioscorea alata), commonly referred to as ‘dead skin', has recently become a major constraint to yam production in the Caribbean. The fungal pathogen Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was consistently isolated from affected tubers and re-inoculation of healthy yam tubers resulted in the development of typical symptoms of dead skin