• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.241-250
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• 2000

In 1997, a new disease on creeping bentgrass and Kentucky bluegrass occurred in the green and fairway of a few golf courses in Korea. The disease spread gradually throughout the country and became a threat to turfgrass management. Symptoms of the disease consisted of small, circular, and sunken patches sized 3~5cm in diameter. The disease named as a dollar spot following its characteristic symptoms of circular blight and bleach on the green. The disease peaked two times in a year from April to June and from late August to October and white cottony mycelia of the causal fungus developed on diseased turfs in the early morning when the conditions were favored. A causal fungus was consistently isolated from the infected tufgrass and seven isolates originated from seven golf courses located in six provinces were selected for further study. The fungus produced abundant white aerial mycelia on PDA and turned to dark gray or light brown as it aged. Width of the mycelium was ca. $5~8\mu\textrm{m}$. While sclerotia were not readily formed on the medium, scattered small and dark colored stromata were developed on the surface. The fungus grew well on PDA between 5 to $30^{\circ}C$ and maximally around $25^{\circ}C$. Based on investigated mycological and cultural characteristics, the causal agent of dollar spot was identified as Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. The fungus showed strong pathogenicity to several turfs as creeping bentgrass, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescues, and zoysiagrass.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 2011

Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, the causal agent of dollar spot, is one of the most common pathogens of cool season turfgrasses in South Korea. The vegetative compatibility group (VCG) assay was carried out using nitrate-nonutilizing (nit) mutants recovered from 13 South Korean isolates with various geographical origins. The mutants were divided into four phenotypic classes based on mutation loci associated with nitrogen assimilation: nit1, nit2, nit3, and NitM. The recovered number of nit mutants greatly varied among the isolates, ranging from 0 to 15 mutants. Of the mutants isolated, nit1 and nit2 mutants were most common (80%) while NitM and nit3 were relatively rare. One dominant and four minor VCGs were determined from 18 mutant isolates tested. To study population structures of Korean S. homoeocarpa isolates and increase our understanding of its ecological and epidemiological aspects for dollar spot management on turfgrass, more generated mutants should be tested with more diverse isolate collections.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.85-94
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• 2005

A fungal isolate was newly collected from Zoysiagrass 'Anyang-Joongji' in small circular patches on a fairway ofa golf course in Korea, which seriously occurred during the early summer period of 2005. The isolate presented on PDAmedium, named Scz1, was closely identical to Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, a casual fungus of dollar spot disease, in cool season turf grasses such as creeping bentgrass. Hereby, this study was accomplished to characterize the isolate and compare it with the fungus, named Scb1, isolated from dollar spot-infected creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds. cv Penncross). On PDAmedium, individual mycelial appearance of three isolates was very similar except for the pigment. Mycelial pigments of Scz1 and Scz2 (another analogous isolate collected) were light pinkish on the reverse side of PDA medium but that of Scb1 was dark brownish. In a microscopic study, three isolates were barely distinguishable in the appearance of mycelia. As expected, in the temperaturesensitivity assay, all pathogens were very delicate to $32^{circ}C$ above but not to $30^{circ}C$ below, in which was explained to be one of typical characteristics in S. homoeocarpa. In an artificial inoculation assay, disease symptoms including leaf spots in Zoysiagrass were appeared within 6-7 days after inoculation through the hand inoculation method with the isolate-infested soil. Then the fungus was re-identified from the infected leaf tissues. Interestingly, inoculation of isolate Scz1 gave rise to distinct symptoms in only Zoysiagrass but not in creeping bentgrass 'Penncross' and Kentucky bluegrass 'Midnight'. The observation might be involved in host specific pathogenecity of S. homoeocarpa Scz1 to Zoysiagrass. In a chemical sensitivity assay for the isolate, Scz1, showed a high mycelial inhibition against two fungicides, iprodione and propiconazole. All results described above suggest that S. homoeocarpa Scz1 is a primary pathogen of Zoysia dollar spot disease.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.384-396
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• 2014

Vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) are determined for many fungi to test for the ability of fungal isolates to undergo heterokaryon formation. In several fungal plant pathogens, isolates belonging to a VCG have been shown to share significantly higher genetic similarity than those of different VCGs. In this study we sought to examine the relationship between VCG and genetic similarity of an important cool season turfgrass pathogen, Sclerotinia homoeocarpa. Twenty-two S. homoeocarpa isolates from the Midwest and Eastern US, which were previously characterized in several studies, were all evaluated for VCG using an improved nit mutant assay. These isolates were also genotyped using 19 microsatellites developed from partial genome sequence of S. homoeocarpa. Additionally, partial sequences of mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase II and mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) rRNA, and the atp6-rns intergenic spacer, were generated for isolates from each nit mutant VCG to determine if mitochondrial haplotypes differed among VCGs. Of the 22 isolates screened, 15 were amenable to the nit mutant VCG assay and were grouped into six VCGs. The 19 microsatellites gave 57 alleles for this set. Unweighted pair group methods with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) tree of binary microsatellite data were used to produce a dendrogram of the isolate genotypes based on microsatellite alleles, which showed high genetic similarity of nit mutant VCGs. Analysis of molecular variance of microsatellite data demonstrates that the current nit mutant VCGs explain the microsatellite genotypic variation among isolates better than the previous nit mutant VCGs or the conventionally determined VCGs. Mitochondrial sequences were identical among all isolates, suggesting that this marker type may not be informative for US populations of S. homoeocarpa.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.589-596
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• 2017

Chemical management of dollar spot in turf may lead to the development of Sclerotinia homoeocarpa populations with reduced fungicide sensitivity. The objective of this study was to investigate resistance of S. homoeocarpa isolates to triazole fungicides and to test cross-resistance among three triazole fungicides. A total of 66 isolates of S. homoeocarpa were collected from 15 golf courses across Korea, and tested via in vitro sensitivity assay against hexaconazole, propiconazole and tebuconazole. $EC_{50}$ values of the isolates to these fungicides were distributed in the range of $0.001-1.1\;a.\;i.\;{\mu}g\;ml^{-1}$. Based on the $EC_{50}$ values, twelve representative strains were selected as sensitive isolates including control and insensitive isolates with respect to each fungicide. At a concentration of $0.1\;a.\;i.\;{\mu}g\;ml^{-1}$ for all fungicides, the selected strains were distinguished as sensitive or resistant isolates with the mycelial growth inhibition rate of 50% as the criterion. The $EC_{50}$ values of resistant strains exposed to hexaconazole, propiconazole and tebuconazole were 20-50 times, 50-70 times, and 77 times greater, respectively, than that of the control strains. Two isolates of S. homoeocarpa S0-41 and Sh14-2-1 showed sensitivity toward all the fungicides used, while two other isolates Sh7-5-1 and Sh2-1-1 showed resistance to all fungicides. Each isolate showed similar resistance to the three types of triazole fungicides, whereby cross-resistance of isolates was confirmed in the present study; all three triazole fungicide combinations displayed significant correlation coefficients equivalent to or greater than 0.8.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.170-175
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• 2010

A total of 24 isolates of S. homoeocarpa were isolated from 16 golf courses in Korea. Chemical resistance of 24 isolates was determined by in vitro fungal growth on fungicide-amended media with thiophanatemethyl (Benzimidazole fungicide family), tebuconazole (demethylation inhibitor fungicide family: DMI), and iprodione (dicarboximide fungicide family). Results indicated that 83.3% of 24 isolates were resistant to iprodione, 62.5% resistant to thiophanate-methyl and 0% resistant to tebuconazale. The dual resistance of iprodione and thiophanate-methyl was 58.3.%. Occurrence rate of fungicide resistance of thiophanate-methyl and iprodione had no relation to turfgrass varieties and isolated locations of pathogen. In the filed test, procymidone, boscalid, and fluquinconazole+pyrimethanil effectively controlled the dollar spot of creeping bentgrass.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

Antifungal activity of 20 chemicals registered to turfgrass diseases was evaluated. Among the chemicals, iprodione, benomyl, iprodione+thiram, pencycuron+tebuconazole, hexaconazole, and iprodione+thiophanate-methyl exhibited high antifungal activity to the dollar spot fungus. All isolates were greatly inhibited by the chemicals at the concentration over 32ppm($\mu\textrm{g}$/ml). However, sensitivity of the isolates to chemicals was varied at the lower concentration as 8 and 16 ppm as follows. The isolate originated from Ora golf course was resistant to iprodione and iprodione+thiophanate methyl, Gonjiam isolate to iprodion, Youngpyung isolate to iprodione+thiram, and Dogo isolate to iprodione+thiram, pencycuron+tebuconazole, and tebuconazole. It was found from this study that the varied chemical resistance among the isolates was positively related to the application time of the chemical in the golf course. Consequently, when a chemical was applied more often times than the others to the golf course, the fungal isolates originate from the field showed higher resistance to the former chemical. Effects of the chemicals on control of the dollar spot was evaluated in the field. All tested chemicals revealed over 70% disease control efficacy, however, mepronil+propiconazole was the best showing 83% control efficacy and followed by fenarimo, iprodione, terbuconazole, thiram, and thiophanate-methyl.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.65-76
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• 2006

Scz1, an isolate of Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, was recently reported as a novel pathogen responsible for dollar spot disease in Zoysiagrass, a warm season turfgrass. Scz1 possessed different characteristics on mycelial pigment, mycelial affinity and host pathogenecity compared to those of Scb1, a typical isolate, obtained from creeping bentgrass, a cool season turfgrass. In this study, only three isolates, Scz1, Scz2(another analogous isolate of Sclerotinia homoeocarpa from zoysiagrass), and Scb1, were examined at the molecular level using the internal transcribed spacer(ITS) and random amplified polymorphic DNA(RAPD) assays to verify their identification and genetic variation. As a result of ITS assay, partial ITS sequences of three isolates showed 94-97% similarity with a standardized ITS sequence of S. homoeocarpa registered on BLAST. In the analysis of RAPD, range value through similarity matrix was 0.167 between Scz1 and Scb1, 0.139 between Scz2 and Scb1, and 0.713 between Scz1 and Scz2, respectively. Furthermore, tendegram analysis indicated that Scz1 and Scz2, unlike Scb1, were clustered together as accompanying a high genetic similarity. In in vitro fungicide bioassay, $EC_{50}$ value representing the sensitivity degree to propiconazole, a well-known fungicide for dollar spot disease, was 0.012 ${\mu}g/ml$ for Sczl, 0.003 ${\mu}g/ml$ for Scz2, and 0.030 ${\mu}g/ml$ for Scb1. From all data taken, we concluded that both Scz1 and Scz2 belonged to one group of S. homoeocarpa, since they exhibit the same host range and high level of genetic similarity, whereas their chemical competences to a fungicide were different. This study would provide further approach for assessing genetic diversity of S. homoeocarpa isolates as well as characterizing individual isolate against chemical exposure.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.376-382
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• 2015

Dollar spot, caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, is the major disease in cool-season turfgrasses. Understanding the distribution of this pathogen in soil and thatch is important to developing disease control strategies. In this study, toothpicks were used to detect S. homoeocarpa in the turfgrass canopy, thatch, and soil at different distances from dollar spot infection centers. The effect of penetrant and contact fungicide applications with different water volumes on distribution of S. homoeocarpa was also investigated. S. homoeocarpa was detected in 100% of samples taken from the leaf canopy, 83.3% in thatch area, and 0% in the soil from within the infection center. S. homoeocarpa was isolated in 100% of samples taken from the edge of the infection center, but was only detected in 13% of the samples taken at 1.5 cm away from the infection center edge. S. homoeocarpa was isolated at a higher frequency in the propiconazole treated plots than those treated with chlorothalonil and was not detected in leaf canopy samples when either fungicides was applied with 6.78 L of water. In conclusion, the toothpick-aided detection technique has improved our understanding of S. homoeocarpa epidemiology and could be used as a diagnostic tool to detect for fungicide resistance on golf courses.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.161-164
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• 2010

Dollar spot, caused by Sclerotinia homoeocarpa F.T. Bennett, is the most economically important turfgrass disease on golf courses in North America due to its persistent nature. Fungicides, plant growth regulators, and other products were evaluated for preventative control of dollar spot and the secondary effects on brown patch and Pythium in a mixed stand of creeping bentgrass and annual bluegrass golf course putting green. Most fungicides provided excellent control of dollar spot throughout the trial but Rhapsody alone did not provide adequate control. Civitas applied alone and tank-mixed with Banner MAXX(R) and Daconil Ultrex(R) provided acceptable control throughout the study. No phytotoxicity was observed on any of the treatments applied but a darker green color and reduction in turfgrass growth was observed in a treatment with plant growth regulator, Trimmit. Treatments that contained Civitas and the Civitas Harmonizer also exhibited green pigmentation.