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Mycelial Compatibility and Pathogenic Diversity Among Sclerotium rolfsii Isolates in the Southern United States

Sclerotium rolfsii is a soilborne fungus that causes southern blight on a wide range of plants in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Eighty-four isolates collected from Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia were paired and assigned to 23 mycelial compatibility groups (MCGs), of which 11 MCGs consisted of a single isolate. Isolates within an MCG typically originated from different hosts and different geographical areas, with the exception of MCG 11. In all, 13 of the 15 isolates in MCG 11 originated from peanut in Georgia and Florida, while the other 2 isolates originated from potato in Virginia and from the ornamental Barlaeria cristata in Florida. Significant differences in the size and number of sclerotia produced in vitro existed between isolates from peanut and other hosts. Nineteen isolates representative of the most common MCGs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18) were tested for pathogenicity on tomato, pepper, and peanut. All isolates were pathogenic on all hosts but virulence differed significantly among isolates. Isolates collected from peanut were the most virulent on all three hosts compared with isolates collected from tomato and pepper. ‘Georgia Green’ peanut was more susceptible to peanut isolates from Georgia than to the other tested isolates. Of the two tomato entries, the commercial tomato ‘Tygress’ was less susceptible than the previously reported resistant breeding line 5635M to many of the S. rolfsii isolates tested, with the exception of the peanut isolates collected from Georgia. These initial findings suggest that considerable variation exists among S. rolfsii isolates throughout the southern United States, with some indications of specialization for the isolates collected from peanut.