First Report of Web Blight of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-1-IB in Korea

Herein, we report the first occurrence of web blight of rosemary caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-1-IB in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Korea, in August 2014. The leaf tissues of infected rosemary plants were blighted and white mycelial growth was seen on the stems. The fungus was isolated from diseased leaf tissue and cultured on potato dextrose agar for identification. The young hyphae had acute angular branching near the distal septum of the multinucleate cells and mature hyphal branches formed at an approximately 90degrees angle. This is morphologically identical to R. solani AG-1-IB, as per previous reports. rDNA-ITS sequences of the fungus were homologous to those of R. solani AG-1-IB isolates in the GenBank database with a similarity percentage of 99%, thereby confirming the identity of the causative agent of the disease. Pathogenicity of the fungus in rosemary plants was also confirmed by Koch's postulates.

The First Report of Postharvest Stem Rot of Kohlrabi Caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in Korea

In March 2014, a kohlrabi stem rot sample was collected from the cold storage room of Daegwallyong Horticultural Cooperative, Korea. White and fuzzy mycelial growth was observed on the stem, symptomatic of stem rot disease. The pathogen was isolated from the infected stem and cultured on potato dextrose agar for further fungal morphological observation and to confirm its pathogenicity, according to Koch's postulates. Morphological data, pathogenicity test results, and rDNA sequences of internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS 1 and 4) showed that the postharvest stem rot of kohlrabi was caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. This is the first report of postharvest stem rot of kohlrabi in Korea.

First Report of Potato Stem-End Rot Caused by Fusarium oxysporum in Korea

In this study, we identified the causative agent of stem-end rot in potatoes that were grown in Gangwon alpine areas of Korea in 2013. The disease symptoms included appearance of slightly sunken circular lesion with corky rot on the potato surface at the stem-end portion. The fungal species isolated from the infected potatoes were grown on potato dextrose agar and produced white aerial mycelia with dark violet pigments. The conidiophores were branched and monophialidic. The microconidia had ellipsoidal to cylindrical shapes and ranged from 2.6~11.4 x 1.9~3.5 microm in size. The macroconidia ranged from 12.7~24.7 x 2.7~3.6 microm in size and had slightly curved or fusiform shape with 2 to 5 septate. Chlamydospores ranged from 6.1~8.1 x 5.7~8.3 microm in size and were present singly or in pairs. The causal agent of potato stem-end rot was identified as Fusarium oxysporum by morphological characterization and by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS4) regions of rRNA. Artificial inoculation of the pathogen resulted in development of disease symptoms and the re-isolated pathogen showed characteristics of F. oxysporum. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report that potato stem-end rot is caused by F. oxysporum in Korea.