Stem Rot of Strawberry Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Korea

A destructive stem rot of strawberry (cv. Akihime) occurred sporadically in farmers' fields around Daegok-Myeon, Jinju City, Gyeongnam province in Korea. The infected plants showed stem and crown rot, sometimes whole plant blighted. White mycelia spread over stems of infected clones and sclerotia formed on the old lesions near to soil surface. The fungus formed white colony on PDA and showed maximum mycelial growth and scleotial formation around 30$^{\circ}C$. The fungus usually have many narrow mycelial strands in the aerial mycelium and the width were 4.0∼10.0$\mu\textrm{m}$. The typical clamp connections were formed on the mycelium. The shape of sclerotia was globoid and 1.0∼2.8 mm in size. The fungus was isolated repeatedly from the infected tissues and identified as Sclerotium rolfsii. The fungus was inoculated to strawberry and confirmed its pathogenecity This is the first report on the stem rot of strawberry caused by Scierotium rolfsii in Korea.