In this study, we aimed to characterize fungal samples from necrotic lesions on collar regions observed in different sweetpotato growing regions during 2015 and 2016 in Korea. Sclerotia appeared on the root zone soil surface, and white dense mycelia were observed. At the later stages of infection, mother roots quickly rotted, and large areas of the plants were destroyed. The disease occurrence was monitored at 45 and 84 farms, and 11.8% and 6.8% of the land areas were found to be infected in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Fungi were isolated from disease samples, and 36 strains were preserved. Based on the cultural and morphological characteristics of colonies, the isolates resembled the reference strain of Sclerotium rolfsii. Representative strains were identified as S. rolfsii (teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) based on phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and large subunit genes along with morphological observations. To test the pathogenicity, sweetpotato storage roots were inoculated with different S. rolfsii strains. ‘Yulmi’ variety displayed the highest disease incidence, whereas ‘Pungwonmi’ resulted in the least. These findings suggested that morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis were useful for identification of S. rolfsii.

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is a member of the genus Potyvirus in the family Potyviridae. Legume crops are often infected by SMV. SMV has not been naturally isolated from sword bean (Canavalia gladiata) in South Korea. In July 2021, 30 samples of sword bean were collected at the field located in Hwasun and Muan, Jeonnam, Korea to investigate viruses infecting sword bean. The samples exhibited symptoms typical of viral infection such as mosaic pattern and, mottling of leaves. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) techniques were employed to identify the agent of viral infection in sword bean samples. Total RNA was extracted from the samples using the Easy-SpinTM Total RNA Extraction Kit (Intron, Seongnam, Korea). Out of the 30 samples, seven were found to be infected by the SMV. RT-PCR was performed using RT-PCR Premix (GeNet Bio, Daejeon, Korea) with SMV-specific primer set, forward primer (SM-N40, 5′-CATATCAGTTTGTTGGGCA-3′) and the reverse primer (SM-C20, 5′-TGCCTATACCCTCAACAT-3′), yielding a product of 492 bp (Lim et al., 2014). RT-LAMP was performed using RT-LAMP Premix (EIKEN Chemical, Tokyo, Japan) with SMV-specific primer set, the forward primer (SML-F3, 5′-GACGATGAACAGATGGGC-3′, SML-FIP, 5′-GCATCTGGAGATGTGCTTTTGTGGTTATGAATGGTTTCATGG-3′) and reverse primer (SML-B3, 5′-TCTCAGAGTTGGTTTTGCA-3′, SML-BIP, 5′-GCGTGTGGGTGATGATGGATTTTTTCGACAATGGGTTTCAGC-3′) for diagnosis of viral infection (Lee et al., 2015). The full coat protein genes of seven isolates were amplified using RT-PCR to determine their nucleotide sequence. The standard nucleotide BLAST (blastn suite) showed that the seven isolates had approximately 98.2–100% homology with SMV isolates (FJ640966, MT603833, MW079200, and MK561002) in NCBI GenBank. The sequences of seven isolates were deposited in the GenBank database under the accession numbers: OP046403–9. For the pathogenicity assay of the isolate, the crude saps from SMV-infected samples were mechanically inoculated into sword bean. Fourteen days after inoculation, the mosaic symptoms were observed on the upper leaves of sword bean. As a result of the RT-PCR diagnosis in the upper leaves, SMV was reconfirmed in sword bean. This is the first report of natural SMV infection in sword bean. As sword beans are increasingly consumed for teas, transmitted seeds are resulting in a decrease in pod production and quality. It is necessary to develop efficient methods of seed processing and management strategies to control SMV infection in sword bean.

Hogammi' was developed as a sweetpotato variety with β-carotene content and excellent palatability in 2015. It was derived by crossing 'AB95007-2', which has good shape and storage root yield, and 'Annoimo', which has light orange flesh and good palatability. 'Hogammi' had storage roots with long elliptical shape, red skin, and light orange flesh. The texture of the steamed storage root of 'Hogammi' was intermediate or slightly moist, and it was more tender than that of 'Yulmi'. The soluble solid content of the steamed storage roots of 'Hogammi' was 29.7 °Brix, which was 10.8% higher than that of 'Yulmi'. The palatability of the steamed storage roots of 'Hogammi' was better than that of 'Yulmi'. The β-carotene content of the storage roots of 'Hogammi' was 9.8 mg/100 g dry weight. 'Hogammi' was moderately resistant to Fusarium wilt and root-knot nematode. In 'Hogammi', the number of marketable storage roots per plant and the average weight of marketable storage root were 3.4 and 133 g under culture in the normal season, respectively. The marketable storage root yield of 'Hogammi' was 24.1 MT/ha under culture in the normal season, which was 4% higher than that of 'Yulmi'. The yield of marketable storage root over 50 g of 'Hogammi' was 14.5 MT/ha under culture in the early season, which was 39.8% lower than that under culture in the normal season. 'Hogammi' was more suitable for culture in the normal season (Registration No. 6466).