VIEW ARTICLE

Formation and Dispersal of Cylindrocladium crotalariae Microsclerotia in Infected Peanut Roots. R. C. Rowe, Research Associate, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607; S. A. Johnston(2), and M. K. Beute(3). (2)(3)Graduate Research Assistant and Associate Professor, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607. Phytopathology 64:1294-1297. Accepted for publication 8 May 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-1294.

Survival of Cylindrocladium crotalariae in air-dried, naturally-infected peanut roots was demonstrated. Peanut plants grown in fumigated and nonfumigated soil in which C. crotalariae-infected roots had been incorporated in September and exposed to field conditions until April became uniformly infected. C. crotalariae microsclerotia grown in culture incited root rot of peanuts 4 wk after inoculation. Microsclerotia of C. crotalariae, found in the root cortex of naturally and artificially-infected peanut plants, were highly variable in number and size, and averaged 52.7 µm by 88.4 µm. They first appeared in infected peanut roots 55 days after inoculation in the field and numbers increased rapidly after 90 days. Root fragments containing microsclerotia were found in debris expelled from combines operating in infested fields. Fragments large enough to carry microsclerotia were trapped 235 m downwind.