Occurrence of Sclerotinia Rot in Four Leguminous Crops Caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

Four leguminous crops grown in greenhouses and fields in Korea were surveyed from 2000 through 2002. Sclerotinia rot most severely occurred up to $60\%$ in Phaseolus vulgaris grown in greenhouses but occurred as low as $0-0.5\%$ in that grown in fields. Incidence of the disease in Pisum sativum grown in greenhouses ranged $1-5\%$, and that in Vicia Java and Vigna sinensis grown in fields was $0.8\%$ and $2\%$, respectively. Symptoms of Sclerotinia rot commonly developed on stems and pods of the crops. A total of 59 isolates of Sclerotinia species were obtained from diseased stems and pods of the crops. All of the isolates were identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum based on their morphological characteristics. Eight isolates of the fungus were tested for their pathogenicity to four host crops by artificial inoculation. All of the isolates induced rot symptoms on stems of the host crops tested, which were similar to those observed in the fields. The pathogenicity tests revealed that there was no significant difference in the susceptibility to the isolates among the leguminous crops tested This is the first formal report that S. sclerotiorum causes the Sclerotinia' rot of the four leguminous crops in Korea.