Occurrence of Gray Mold Caused by Botrytis cinerea on Rubus crataegifolius in Korea

Seung-Han  Kim1   Sangkyu  Park2    Seung-Yeol  Lee2    Youn-Sig  Kwak3    Hee-Young  Jung2,*   

1Gyeongbuk Agricultural Research and Extension Service
2School of Applied Biosciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University
3Department of Plant Medicine, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Gyeongsang National University

Abstract

The occurrence of gray mold on Rubus crataegifolius has recently been reported in Pohang, Gyeongbuk province, Korea. The initial symptom was the appearance of small brown spots on the leaves, and these lesions became later covered with a gray fungus as the disease progressed. A fungus was isolated from symptomatic leaves and incubated. Through morphological and phylogenetic analyses, the causal agent of the disease was identified to be Botrytis cinerea. The fungal isolate was then used to inoculate on the leaves of healthy plants to determine its pathogenicity as the causal agent of gray mold as per Koch’s postulates. The inoculated leaves showed the same symptoms as the originally infected plant, and the fungal pathogen re-isolated from the lesions showed the same morphological characteristics as the original pathogen. This is the first report on the occurrence of gray mold on R. crataegifolius caused by B. cinerea in Korea.

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