Sphaeropsis sapinea is a pathogen that causes dieback and death of trees in commercial conifer crops around the world. In Brazil, the literature remarks this fungus on seedlings and logs of Araucaria angustifolia after harvesting, without reports of branch death or dieback. This study aimed to verify the pathogenicity of S. sapinea in A. angustifolia. Koch postulates were performed for 25 years-old trees. Mycelium-agar disks of an aggressive isolate obtained from Pinus taeda, collected from 10 days-old cultures, were inoculated into injured branches. Each plant had three branches inoculated with the fungus and one branch remained as control plant. All plants were kept in a greenhouse for 30 days. Branches with and without symptoms were incubated in humid chamber, under light, to reisolate the pathogen. Eight of the inoculated trees showed symptoms similar to those caused by S. sapinea in pines. The fungus was reisolated from 68 % inoculated trees. The branch death caused by S. sapinea was confirmed in young araucaria trees.
araucaria; branch death; pathogen
