VIEW ARTICLE

The Relationship of Sporulation, Sclerotia Production, and Growth Rate to Virulence and Fitness of Sclerotium oryzae. S. A. Ferreira, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis 95616, Current address of senior author: Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins 80523; R. K. Webster, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis 95616. Phytopathology 65:972-976. Accepted for publication 28 March 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-972.

Attributes assumed likely to contribute to the relative success or fitness of S. oryzae were studied in 20 isolates. Quantitative differences in the rate and amount of conidia and sclerotia produced and growth rate did not correlate with an apparent lack of fitness among isolates extreme for virulence, or with an observed skewed distribution in nature of isolates carrying the “A” mating type allele. Production of conidia and sclerotia and growth rate are probably inherited independently of each other, virulence, and mating type since no relationships between these characters were revealed with regression and correlation analysis.