• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.129-133
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• 2006

A bacterial disease of small red bean (Phaseolus angularis) was observed on field-grown plants in Suwon in year 2003. Leaf symptoms initially appeared as water-soaked spots that gradually enlarged, became flaccid and necrotic and were often bordered by a small zone of lemon yellow tissue. In the case of severe infection, dead leaves were defoliated. Pod symptoms consisted of the lesions that were generally circular, slightly sunken and dark reddish brown. Isolation made from diseased leaves on yeast extract dextrose calcium carbonate agar yielded nearly pure cultures of a yellow-pigmented bacterium typical of a xanthomonad. Three bacterial strains were purified and used for further tests. Pathogenicity of strains was confirmed on 3-week-old small red bean plants sprayed with bacterial suspensions containing $10^8 cfu/ml$ of phosphate buffered saline. The representative Xanthomonas strains isolated from small red bean were compared with X. axonopodis pv. phaseoli and X. axonopodis pv. phaseoli var. fuscans type strains for fatty acid profiles, biochemical tests and metabolic fingerprints using Biolog GN2 microplate, showing that all outcomes were indistinguishable between our isolates and reference strains. Two of three strains produced a melanin-like brown pigment extracellularly on King's medium B agar. These results suggest that this new small red bean disease observed in Suwon is bacterial fuscous blight caused by X. axonopodis pv. phaseoli and X. axonopodis pv. phaseoli var. fuscans.