Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor. J. Mycol.)
Indexed in SCOPUS, KCI, DOAJ
OPEN ACCESS, PEER REVIEWED
pISSN 0253-651X
eISSN 2383-5249
RESEARCH NOTE

First Report of Apple Decline Caused by Botryosphaeria sinensis in Korea

1College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
2Institute of Plant Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
3Horticultural and Herbal Crop Environment Division, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal
Science, Rural Development Administration, Wanju 55365, Korea

Correspondence to heeyoung@knu.ac.kr

Korean Journal of Mycology (Kor J Mycol) September, 2021, 49(3):417-423.
https://doi.org/10.4489/KJM.20210040
Accepted: September 27, 2021; Revised: September 25, 2021; Received: September 03, 2021
Published: September, 2021.
© 2021 THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF MYCOLOGY.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Apple decline symptoms were frequently observed on cv. Fuji apple orchards located in Gyeonggi, Gyeongbuk, and Gangwon provinces during surveys conducted from May until the end of September 2020. Three fungal strains were isolated from the margins of internal lesions of diseased apple trees, and their morphological characteristics were considered similar to Botryosphaeria sinensis. Phylogenetic analysis using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1), beta-tubulin (tub2), and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (rpb2) gene sequences confirmed the closest relationship of isolates with B. sinensis at the species level. According to a pathogenicity test, the appearance of dark-brown discolorations and vascular necrosis on apple branches inoculated with the isolated strain KNUF-20-014 was observed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of B. sinensis as the causal agent of apple disease in Korea.

Keywords

Apple decline, Botryosphaeria sinensis, cv. Fuji, Phylogeny

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