2007 Volume 73 Issue 2 Pages 114-116
A new disease of wax gourd (Benincasa cerifera Savi) characterized by scab of fruit was observed in Okayama Prefecture, Japan in July 2003. Fungal isolates frequently obtained from diseased fruits of the plants were identified as Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 HG-I based on hyphal anastomosis and cultural morphology. In inoculation tests, these isolates were pathogenic on fruits of wax gourd and caused the same symptoms, and were re-isolated from the lesions of the diseased fruits. This is the first report of a fruit disease of wax gourd caused by R. solani. Therefore, the name brown scab of wax gourd is proposed for the new disease.