VIEW ARTICLE

Disease Control and Pest Management

Suppression of Brown Patch Disease of Creeping Bentgrass by Isolates of Nonpathogenic Rhizoctonia spp.. L. L. Burpee, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada; L. G. Goulty, Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. Phytopathology 74:692-694. Accepted for publication 13 February 1984. Copyright 1984 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-74-692.

Turfgrass isolates of Rhizoctonia spp., with binucleate hyphal cells (BnR), were studied as potential antagonists of Rhizoctonia solani. In each of three field experiments, creeping bentgrass developed significantly less disease when inoculated with BnR 24 hr before inoculation with R. solani than when inoculated with R. solani alone. Disease was not observed in plots inoculated with BnR alone. Significant differences in suppressive ability were observed among BnR isolates. BnR and R. solani were isolated from bentgrass leaves and grain inoculum that were removed from infested plots at the termination of each experiment. Disease was not suppressed in plots where an isolate of Epicoccum from turfgrass was substituted for BnR.