Abstract
Clubroot symptoms were frequently observed on the roots of Baecheongchae plants grown in vinyl greenhouses of a farmer located in Yangpyeong area of Korea during a disease survey in June 2019. The incidence of diseased Baecheongchae plants ranged from 30 to 90% in the vinyl greenhouses investigated. Many resting spores were found in the tissue of root galls collected. The resting spores were hyaline and spherical and measured 2.5-4.2 ㎛ in diameter. Three inoculum suspensions of resting spores prepared from the root galls were inoculated to the roots of healthy Baecheongchae plants. All the inoculum suspensions caused clubroot symptoms to appear on the roots of the inoculated Baecheongchae plants. The symptoms on the roots induced by artificial inoculation were similar to those observed in the plants of the vinyl greenhouses during the disease survey. Resting spores of the pathogen were recovered from the root galls of the inoculated plants. Three root gall isolates obtained from the inoculated plants were used for molecular identification. Comparing the isolates to the Plasmodiophora brassicae strains in GenBank, the amplification products demonstrated 100% similarity with the internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) sequences. The clubroot pathogen was identified as P. brassicae according to its morphological, pathological, and molecular characteristics. This is the first report of P. brassicae causing clubroot in Baecheongchae.