Causal fungi of strawberry damping-off in the summer season in Saga Prefecture

Abstract

The fungi isolated from strawberry stocks with anthracnose-like disease were as follows: Colletotrichum fragariae, Rhizoctonia solani, Rhizoctonia sp., Fusariurn sp., Dendrophoma obscurans, and Pythium sp. Of these, C. fragariae and R. solani were highly pathogenic to strawberry seedlings. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth on PSA medium was about 27 C for both R. solani and C. fragariae. R. solani was moderately or highly pathogenic to Cucurbitaceae, Cruciferae and other test plants. Inoculation tests with a mixture of both isolates of the C. fragariae and R. solani proved more severe pathogenicity to strawberry seedlings than either fungus alone.