Soft Rot of Eggplant (Solanum melongena) Caused by Choanephora cucurbitarum in Korea

In April 2002 and 2003, soft rot on fruit of eggplant (Solanum melongena) caused by Choanephora cucurbitarum was observed in the experimental fields at Gyeongnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services in Korea. The disease began with water-soaking and dark-green lesions, and then the infected tissues were rapidly rotten. Sporangium was subglobose in shape and sized $40{\sim}130\;{\mu}m$. Monosporous sporangiola were elliptic, fusiform or ovoid, brown in color, and measured as $12{\sim}20\;{\times}\;6{\sim}14\;{\mu}m$. Sporangiospores having three or more appendages were elliptic, fusiform or ovoid in shape, dark brown or brown in color, and sized $14{\sim}20\;{\times}7{\sim}16\;{\mu}m$. The fungus grew well on potato dextrose agar between 15 and $40^{\circ}C$ and its optimum growth temperature was $30^{\circ}C$. Based on morphological characteristics, the causal fungus of the fruit soft rot of eggplant was identified as C. cucurbitarum. This is the first report on the soft rot of S. melongena caused by C. cucurbitarum in Korea.