1985 Volume 31 Pages 48-51
Four methods of detection of Rhizoctonia spp. in the soil of Japanese radish fields were compared to analyse the ecological behavior of the fungus. In the soil of the fields, a higher frequency of Rhizoctonia spp. was observed with the bait methods using stem of flax or straw of barley than with the plant debris method and the contact slide method. Besides, as a trapping plant, the stem of flax was superior to the straw of barley. By artificial inoculation of soil in pot experiments, the detection ability of these methods ranked as follows: the bait method using stem of flax> the bait method using straw of barley> the contact slide method> the plant debris method. It was considered that the bait method with flax was more effective even in the soil with a low density of the fungus. The contact slide method did not enable to isolate the fungus. Thus, it is suggested that the bait method with flax may be a suitable method to detect and isolate Rhizoctonia spp. in the soil of Japanese radish fields.