Cultural, Morphological and Pathogenicity Characters of Sclerotium Rolfsii Causing Stem Rot in Groundnut

Abstract

The present studies were undertaken to investigate the cultural, morphological and pathogenicity characters of Sclerotium rolfsii. Maximum per cent disease incidence was recorded in Nadiyappattu followed by Sivapuri, Kammapuram, Killai, Kurinjipadi, Parangipettai, Chathiram and Puthuchathiram in the decreasing order of merit of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. The native isolates of S. rolfsii were isolated from the respective locations and designated as (SR1 to SR9). All the isolated showed variations with respect to colony character, mycelial growth, no of sclerotia, colour of sclerotia, shape and arrangement of sclerotia. Among the nine isolates of S. rolfsii collected from different groundnut growing areas of Cuddalore district, the isolate (SR5) collected from Nadiyappattu was found to be more virulent and recorded the maximum incidence followed by SR8 collected from Sivapuri. Maximum susceptibility was recorded when the plants are about 45 days showing disease incidence of upto 79.86 per cent.