Occurrence of Stem Rot of Wild Aster(Aster koraiensis) Caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Korea

A destructive stem rot of wild aster(Aster koraiensis) occurred sporadically some farmers' fields in Guman-myon, Kosonggun, Kyongsangnam-do in 2000. One of the most severely infected field in Kosong showed 28.6 percent of infection rate. The fungus also caused stem or crown rot and systemic wilt or blight of the plants. White mycelium spread over stems and petioles of infected plants and sclerotia formed on the old lesions and near the soil surface. The fungus showed maximum mycelial growth around $30^{\circ}C$ and did not grow under $5^{\circ}C$ and over $45^{\circ}C$ and mycelial width were $4.3{\sim}10.2{\mu}m$. Colony was white, usually many narrow mycelial stand in the aerial mycelium and formed clamp connection. Numerous sclerotia were formed on PDA at $30^{\circ}C$. The shape sclerotia were globoid and $0.8{\sim}3.0{\times}0.9{\sim}3.4$ mm in size. The fungus was isolated repeatedly from the infected tissues and confirmed its pathogenecity to wild aster and identified as Sclerotium rolfsii. This is the first report on the stem rot of wild aster caused by S. rolfsii in Korea.