The occurrence of sclerotium rot on Catharanthus roseus caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in South Korea

Abstract

In May 2013, an occurrence of sclerotium rot was observed on rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) plants grown in a seedling greenhouse in Jinju, South Korea. The typical symptoms included blighting and rotting, and severely infected plants eventually died. Furthermore, mycelial mats spread over the infected rosy periwinkle stems and leaves and sclerotia formed near the soil surface. On the basis of the morphological characteristics, the complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis, and pathogenicity tests, the causal fungus was identified as Sclerotium rolfsii Saccardo. This is the first report of sclerotium rot caused by S. rolfsii on rosy periwinkle in South Korea.