Abstract
Anthracnose severely occurred on begonia (Begonia semperflorens Link.) nurseries in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk in July, 2004. More than $80\%$ of begonia seedlings were diseased in the greenhouse surveyed and diseased leaves per plant were $12.1\%$ in average. Yellowish spots occurred on the leaves of begonia as initial symptoms, and they coalesced irregularly to form large brown pleomorphic lesions. Severely infected leaves were defoliated, resulting in abnormal growth of the entire plant. Colletotrichum sp. was repeatedly isolated from the diseased plants and was identified as Colletotrichum acutatum on the basis of the mycological characteristics on potato dextrose agar and RAPD analysis. Pathogenicity of the fungus was also confirmed by artificial inoculation on healthy plants. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth of C. acutatum was around $25^{\circ}C$. The fungus was sensitive to azoxystrobin, bitertanol, diethofencarb-carbendazim, difenoconazole and tebuconazole. This is the first report on the anthracnose of begonia caused by C. acutatum in Korea.
