Persian buttercup (Ranunculus asiaticus L.) is grown in the Albenga Region of northern Italy for cut flower production and exportation to central and northern Europe. During the winter of 2003, sudden wilt was observed in commercial plantings of R. asiaticus. Initial symptoms included stem necrosis at the soil level and yellowing and tan discoloration of leaves. As stem necrosis progressed, infected plants wilted and died. Wilt occurred within a few days on young plants and was characterized by the presence of soft and watery tissues. Necrotic tissues became covered with whitish mycelium that produced dark, spherical sclerotia (1 to 4 mm in diameter). Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary (1) was consistently recovered from infected stem pieces of R. asiaticus that were disinfested for 1 min in 1% NaOCl and plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) amended with 100 ppm of streptomycin sulfate. Pathogenicity of three isolates obtained from infected plants of persian buttercup was confirmed by inoculating 30-day-old plants grown in containers. Inoculum that consisted of wheat kernels infested with mycelium and sclerotia of each isolate was placed on the soil surface around the base of each of five plants. Noninoculated plants served as controls. The inoculation trial was repeated once. All plants were kept at temperatures ranging between 8 and 22°C and watered as needed. Inoculated plants developed symptoms of leaf yellowing followed by wilt within 15 days, while control plants remained symptomless. White mycelium and sclerotia developed on infected tissues, and S. sclerotiorum was reisolated from inoculated plants. S. sclerotiorum has been previously reported on R. asiaticus in the United States (2) and Japan (3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of wilt of R. asiaticus caused by S. sclerotiorum in Italy and Europe.
References: (1) N. F. Buchwald. Den. Kgl. Veterin.er-og Landbohojskoles Aarsskrift, 1949. (2) D. F. Farr et al. Fungi on Plants and Plant Products in the United States. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 1989. (3) T. Urushibara et al. Annu. Rep. Kanto-Tosan Plant Prot. Serv. 46:61, 1999.
