New method for sclerotial isolation of Sclerotium spp. from infested soil

White rot on Allium species recently had a high incidence as increased cultivating areas of tropical garlic types in Korea. Two types of Sclerotium have been known as causal agents producing different size and shapes of sclerotia in infested fields. We developed a new method for isolation of two types of sclerotia from infested field soils that can be used for ecological study of sclerotium spp. and establishment of control strategy. Soil samples collected from heavily infested fields were evenly mixed and placed on a automatic sieve shaker connected with tap water. After 10 min. of shaking, residues on 0.5mm and 0.25mm sieve were separately collected and suspended with 70％ sugar solution, which method floats sclerotia in aqueous layer. Then, floated fraction was carefully separated and mixed with a same volume of 1％ sodium hypochlorite solution to differentiate with organic materials. This method provides direct count of sclerotia under dissecting microscopy.