Post-harvest Green Pea Pod Rot Caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in Korea

Abstract

In June 2017, in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, South Korea, green pea pods exhibited post-harvest rot symptoms. The fungus was isolated from infected pea pods and cultured on potato dextrose agar for identification. The morphological characteristics were examined, sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region and the β-tubulin (βtub) gene were analyzed, and the pathogenicity was confirmed according to Koch’s postulates. The morphology, phylogenetic analysis, and pathogenicity tests confirmed that Sclerotinia sclerotiorum was the causal agent. This study reports the first case of post-harvest green pea pod rot caused by S. sclerotiorum in Korea.