Grey Leaf Spot Caused by Stemphylium lycopersici on Tomato Plants

Stemphylium lycopersici에 의한 토마토 점무늬병

Grey leaf spot on tomato plants was first observed in Sedo-myeon, Puyo-kun, Chungnam province of Korea in 1994. This disease which had not been reported before in Korea exhibited different symptoms from those of other leaf spot diseases on tomato plants. The symptoms were characterized by small irregular-shaped spots on leaves at the initial stage of the infection, subsequent spread and coalescence of the spots throughout the leaves with ultimate necrosis, and abscission from the plants. When healthy tomato plants were inoculated with a conidial suspension of the fungus isolated from the lesion of a diseased plant in a field, the same characteristic symptoms as those in the field were produced. Furthermore, the same pathogen could be reisolated from the lesions formed buy the inoculation. Conidial characteristics of the pathogen were as follows; oblong shape with constricted 3 transverse septa, round-shaped base, round- or point-shaped apex, size of 45~75$\times$12.5~17.5 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$, and 3.5 : 1 ratio of length to width. The pathogen was identified as Stemphylium lycopersici and thus this is the first report on the occurrence of grey leaf spot disease on tomato plants caused by s. lycopersici in Korea.