First Report on the Shoot Blight Disease of Gaenari (Forsythia koreana) Caused by Septotinia sp. in Korea

Abstract

In early spring, water-soaked lesions appeared on the petals and leaves of gaenari (<i>Forsythia koreana</i>), and the tissues were necrotic and dry. Cankers appeared on the infected branches around late spring and the above part of a branch withered and died. However, it was very rare that the base of the cankered-branch died. The identical fungi were isolated from the lesions on various tissues, and they grew with white colonies on potato dextrose agar medium. The fungus grew most actively at 23oC and produced many sclerotia of various sizes. In a pathogenicity assay in which mycelial and sclerotial suspensions were inoculated on each organ of forsythia, it was found that the pathogen infects the flower only, but not the leaves or branches. Symptoms on the flowers spread to the next leaves and branches over time and the infected branches were eventually withered. To identify the isolates, DNA sequences of four phylogenetic markers including ITS, LSU, Tub2, and CAL were analyzed and all isolates were identified as a species in the genus Septotinia. This is not only the first report of gaenari (forsythia) shoot blight caused by the fungus Septotinia sp., but also the first report on the genus <i>Septotinia</i> as a plant pathogen in Korea.