Gyeong-Dan Yu

Phylogenetic Placement and Morphological Characterization of Sclerotium rolfsii (Teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) Associated with Blight Disease of Ipomoea batatas in Korea

Abstract In this study, we aimed to characterize fungal samples from necrotic lesions on collar regions observed in different sweetpotato growing regions during 2015 and 2016 in Korea. Sclerotia appeared on the root zone soil surface, and white dense mycelia were observed. At the later stages of infection, mother roots quickly rotted, and large areas of the plants were destroyed. The disease occurrence was monitored at 45 and 84 farms, and 11.8% and 6.8% of the land areas were found to be infected in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Fungi were isolated from disease samples, and 36 strains were preserved. Based on the cultural and morphological characteristics of colonies, the isolates resembled the reference strain of Sclerotium rolfsii. Representative strains were identified as S. rolfsii (teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) based on phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and large subunit genes along with morphological observations. To test the pathogenicity, sweetpotato storage roots were inoculated with different S. rolfsii strains. ‘Yulmi’ variety displayed the highest disease incidence, whereas ‘Pungwonmi’ resulted in the least. These findings suggested that morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis were useful for identification of S. rolfsii.

Control Effect of Insecticides against Chilo suppressalis Walker of Native Miscanthus in Korea

Miscanthus are perennial rhizomatous grasses and considered as an ideal cellulosic bioenergy crop. Recently, it was reported that Miscanthus was damaged by the larvae of rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis Walker, one of the most destructive pests of rice in Korea since the 1960s. This study was thus conducted to evaluate the insecticidal effects against rice stem borer in the Miscanthus cultivation fields for two years. The experiment consisted of four chemical agent plots, one environment-friendly agent plot, and untreated plot. Untreated plot showed significantly high damage of 50%, while Buprofezin·Tebufenozide and Carbosulfan·Methoxyfenozide treatment plots showed low damage rate of 2% with low larvae density of 1 and 2.3 larvae m−2, respectively. Damage rates of Tebufenozide, ChlorantraniliproleIndoxacarb, and environment-friendly agent(MatrineWood vinegar solution) were 15, 26, and 18%, respectively, which were lower than that of untreated plot but higher than those of Buprofezin·Tebufenozide and Carbosulfan·Methoxyfenozide. In conclusion, rice insecticides were effective against rice stem borer in Miscanthus field. In particular, the treatments with Buprofezin·Tebufenozide and Carbosulfan·Methoxyfenozide showed excellent control effects with control value of 93.3 and 95.2. However, further studies with different types of insecticides should be carried out for the selection of insecticides with more effective control of rice stem borer.