Survival of Rhizoctonia solani and Other Soilborne Basidiomycetes in Fallow Soil. D. K. Bell, Department of Plant Pathology, Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, GA 31793-0748. Donald R. Sumner, Department of Plant Pathology, Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton, GA 31793-0748. Plant Dis. 71:911-915. Accepted for publication 4 June 1987. Copyright 1987 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-71-0911.

Soil in 6,581-cm³ clay pots was infested with isolates of Rhizoctonia solani in AG-1–AG-4, binucleate Rhizoctonia-like fungi in CAG-2–CAG-5, R. zeae, and Laetisaria arvalis and buried to within 5 cm of the pot rim for almost 40 wk of incubation in the field. Soil was sampled at infestation and 86, 211, and 283 days after infestation and plated on a medium selective for soilborne basidiomycetes. One of four isolates of AG-1, one of six AG-2-2, one of three AG-2-1, and eight of 14 isolates of AG-4 were recovered from fallow soil after 283 days. Isolates of AG-3 were not recovered after 86 days. One of two isolates of CAG-3 and one of two CAG-4 and a single isolate of CAG-5 were reisolated from soil after 283 days. Isolates of CAG-2 were not reisolated after 211 days. All isolates of R. zeae and a single isolate of L. arvalis were recovered from soil after 283 days. Snap bean and corn were planted in each pot of fallow infested soil and a pot of fallow control soil after 283 days. Isolates of AG-2-2 caused crown and brace root rot in corn, and isolates of AG-4 and AG-2-2 and one isolate of CAG-3 caused root and hypocotyl rot in snap bean. Surviving isolates of other fungi were not pathogenic on snap bean or corn, except for one isolate of AG-2-1 that was weakly virulent on snap bean.