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Title: First report of seedling blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii on wheat in Oklahoma

Author
item CHOPPAKATLA, V - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV
item HUNGER, R - OKLAHOMA STATE UNIV
item MELOUK, HASSAN

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2006
Publication Date: 5/1/2006
Citation: Choppakatla, V., Hunger, R.M., Melouk, H.A. 2006. First report of seedling blight caused by Sclerotium rolfsii on wheat in Oklahoma. Plant Disease. 90:686.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important crop in Oklahoma and throughout the Central Plains of the United States. The soilborne fungus, Sclerotium rolfsii, is a major pathogen on peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) but is not known to cause major damage on wheat. During September of 1998, damping-off and rotting of young wheat seedlings were observed in breeder plots in Payne County, OK. The occurrence of symptoms was sporadic with and estimated stand reduction of 10 to 15%. Symptomatic plants were collected from the field and brought to the laboratory. Sclerotia-like bodies from the symptomatic plants were surface disinfested in aqueous 1% NaOCI for 2 min and allowed to germinate at 25 +/- 2 degrees C on sterile filter paper moistened with a 1% aqueous solution of methanol. Aerial mycelia from germinating sclerotia were transferred to potato dextrose agar amended with 100 ppm of streptomycin (SPDA) to obtain pure cultures. Pure cultures had coarse, white mycelium distinctive of S. rolfsii and produced very small (0.05 to 0.1 mm), abundant, round, brown sclerotia on the surface of the medium after 15 days of incubation. Pathogenicity was tested on three hard red winter wheat cultivars commonly grown in Oklahoma (Jagger, 2137, and 2174). Four plants of each cultivar were inoculated at the two-leaf stage (Feekes' scale stage 1) by placing a 0.5-cm agar disk removed from a 3-day old culture onto a 1-cm diameter filter paper that was then pressed to the base of the shoot. Noninoculated plants were used as a control. After inoculation, pots were covered with polyethylene sheets to maintain 95 to 100% relative humidity and incubated at 25 +/- 2 degrees C in the greenhouse. Lesions were initially superficial, yellowish, and water soaked. Lesions expanded and resulted in damping-off of seedlings. Noninoculated plants were free of disease and remained healthy. No significant difference (P