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First Report of Occurrence of Eggplant Wilt Caused by Verticillium dahliae in Korea

A wilt disease occurred on greenhouse-grown eggplants (Solanum melongena L.) at Hanam and Yeojoo, Korea, in 1997. Lower leaves on the 2-month-old wilted eggplants exhibited gradual yellowing, interveinal necrosis, and marginal crinkling and dropped prematurely. Vascular tissues of diseased stems were discolored and turned black. Vertical sections of the stems revealed that the pith had been colonized by the fungus. The disease progressed from lower parts of the plants upward. Incidence of diseased eggplants in greenhouses was 5% on 23 May 1997. Although the incidence increased to 10% on 13 June, it remained constant through early July. Fungal isolates from discolored vascular tissues were initially whitish to cream color on potato-dextrose agar, which turned black due to the formation of microsclerotia. The fungus also produced abundant verticillate conidiophores with phialides and conidia. Based on these cultural and morphological characteristics, the fungus was identified as Verticillium dahliae Klebahn. Pathogenicity tests by root cutting, root dipping, or soil drenching resulted in similar symptoms observed in the naturally infected eggplants. Symptoms were first observed on lower leaves of each eggplant 3 weeks after inoculation. Isolation from symptomatic leaves of the inoculated eggplants yielded V. dahliae. This is the first report of occurrence of Verticillium wilt of eggplant in Korea.