Echium, also known as common viper's bugloss, is a member of the botanical family Boraginaceae. Echium is being evaluated for its potential use as an oilseed crop in North Dakota. In 2003, 40% of echium plants in a field in Cass County were observed showing classical symptoms of infection by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Plants in advanced stages of infection were dead. Stems of dead plants peeled off easily when touched and numerous cylindrical, black sclerotia that were 2 to 3 mm in diameter and 4 to 7 mm long were found in the pith. Younger stem lesions were watery soft, many of them with a white cottony growth on them. Sclerotia and infected stem tissues collected from the field were surface disinfested in a 0.5% NaOCl solution for 30 s, rinsed with sterile distilled water, and air dried before plating on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Samples were incubated at room temperature for 1 week. White mycelium and black sclerotia, characteristic of S. sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, were produced in all dishes. Koch's postulates were fulfilled using the petiole inoculation technique (2). Briefly, 4-mm agar plugs containing hyphal tips of a 2-day-old S. sclerotiorum colony growing on PDA were excised and loaded in the wide opening of 100-μl pipette tips. The second true leaf of 15 3-week-old echium seedlings, growing in plastic pots containing Ready-Mix soil, was cut off with a razor blade leaving an approximately 25-mm long petiole attached to the stem. The leafless petioles of 10 seedlings were capped with a loaded pipette, agar plug first, until the petiole tip broke the inner surface of the plug and the petiole came in contact with the mycelium. The other five seedlings were inoculated with agar plugs without mycelium and used as control plants. Three days after inoculation, all seedlings inoculated with S. sclerotiorum wilted and expressed symptoms similar to those observed in the field. None of the control plants showed symptoms of infection. Black sclerotia were retrieved from infected stems 2 weeks after inoculation, and the pathogen was successfully reisolated onto PDA. Several important North Dakota crops are susceptible to S. sclerotiorum. The identification of echium as a new host for S. sclerotiorum should be considered in the event that this crop is promoted as an alternative for North Dakota agriculture. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the susceptibility of echium to S. sclerotiorum. Other members of the Boraginaceae have been identified as hosts for this pathogen (1).
References: (1) G. J. Boland and R. Hall. Can. J. Plant Pathol. 16:93, 1994. (2) L. E. del Río et al. (Abstr.) Phytopathology 91 (suppl.):S176, 2001.
