Authors
E. R.
Wright
,
M. C.
Rivera
, and
K.
Asciutto
,
Cátedra de Fitopatología, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Av. San Martin 4453 (1417), Buenos Aires, Republica Argentina
; and
L.
Gasoni
,
Instituto de Microbiologia y Zoologia Agricola, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, C.C. 25, (1712) Castelar, Buenos Aires, Republica Argentina
During 2001, basal stem rot, wilt, and plant death were observed on 30% of the plants in a crop of Dianthus plumarius L. ‘Telstar’ in Buenos Aires. Pieces of diseased stems ≈1 cm long were surface-disinfested in 2% NaOCl for 1 min and cultured on 2% potato dextrose agar (PDA), pH 7, at 22 to 24°C. After 7 days, an identical fungus was consistently isolated from pieces of infected tissue. Colonies initially were white, turned brown after 2 to 3 days, and eventually formed irregularly shaped sclerotia. Cultures exhibited morphological characteristics typical of Rhizoctonia solani Kühn (2) and were identified with known anastomosis group tester isolates (1). Positive anastomosis was observed with tester strains of R. solani AG-4-HG-II. One isolate was tested for pathogenicity by placing two pieces of PDA (1 cm2) containing 7-day-old mycelial growth ≈0.5 cm from the base of healthy 2-month-old plants. Control plants were treated with sterile pieces of PDA using the same procedures. Ten replicate plants were used for each treatment. Plants were maintained at 22 to 24°C under 95 to 100% relative humidity and a 12-h light/dark photoperiod. After 7 days, symptoms developed that were similar to those originally observed, and Koch's postulates were satisfied by reisolating the fungus. To our knowledge, this is the first report of R. solani AG4-HG-II causing disease on D. plumarius in Argentina.
References: (1) B. Sneh et al. Identification of Rhizoctonia Species. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1991. (2) C. C. Tu and J. W. Kimbrough. Mycologia 65:941, 1973.
