Wood rotting fungi and pine mulches enhance parasitism of ciborinia camelliae sclerotia in vitro

Abstract

Nineteen fungal isolates were evaluated in vitro in a study to determine their ability to colonise pine sawdust and subsequently degrade sclerotia of the camellia flower blight fungus Ciborinia camelliae. The fungal isolates included saprophytic wood rot fungi and a mixture of Trichoderma spp. isolated from decaying sclerotia of C. camelliae. The white rot isolates, Schizophyllum commune Sc3, Phanerochaete cordylines HR469, and Pycnoporus coccineus HR582 were effective in degrading 60–80% of sclerotia after incubation for 11–16 weeks. In addition, both P. cordylines HR496 and P. coccineus HR582 degraded melanin in agar, suggesting that they may have potential to degrade melanin in the protective rinds of sclerotia. Sclerotial mortality was 77% when sawdust was amended with a mixture containing isolates of Trichoderma spp. When the mix of Trichoderma isolates was added to assays containing white rot isolates, they increased sclerotial mortality over that caused by each isolate alone. Incorporating saprophytic white rot fungal species or Trichoderma spp. into pre-prepared tree mulches under camellia bushes warrants investigation for long-term control of camellia flower blight. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.