The stem rot of Chrysanthemum zawadskii var. latilobum occurred in the landscape field of Sanggwan-myeon, Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk, Korea in September 2009. The typical symptoms of the disease were water-soaking and dark brown rot on the stem, wilting and blighting. Most infected plants died of the disease. White mycelial mats were spread over lesions and brown sclerotia were formed on stems and near soil surface. The sclerotia were spherical or irregular, 0.8−3.5 (mean 1.8) mm in size on potato

more »

... ose agar, brown in color. The optimal temperature range of hyphal growth was 25−30 o C and the hyphal diameter was 4−9 µm. Clamp connections were observed in the hyphae of the fungus grown on potato dextrose agar. Pathogenicity of the casual organism was provided on C. zawadskii according to Koch's postulate. The fungus was identified as Sclerotium rolfsii on the basis of mycologiclal characteristics and pathogenicity test to host plants. This is the first report on the stem rot of C. zawadskii caused by S. rolfsii in Korea.