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Variation in oxalic acid production, mycelial compatibility and pathogenicity amongst isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causing white mold disease

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Abstract

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is an important devastating necrotrophic plant pathogen infecting various horticulture crops in India. The present study aimed to examine the variability among S. sclerotiorum isolates from different hosts by means of mycelial compatibility grouping (MCGs), production of oxalic acid and pathogenicity. The isolates were grouped into eight MCGs (MCG A to MCG H) and the MCG data was used to calculate Shannon’s diversity index (H) and Simpson index (S). High diversity was detected for the S. sclerotiorum isolates (H = 1.968, S = 0.845). Most of the isolates produced oxalic acid in potato dextrose agar and potato dextrose broth embedded with bromophenol blue, which was confirmed by changing the media colour from blue to yellow. A deep bright yellow colour with higher luminosity values (37.48, 36.64 and 36.84) was observed in SS1, SS3 (mustard) and SS6 (potato) isolates. The highest oxalic acid production was recorded in potato SS14 (43.25 mM) and mustard SS1 (41.11 mM) isolates, while potato isolate SS10 (10.88 mM) produced lowest oxalic acid. All isolates infect the tested plant leaves; however, lesion size and time required for infection were varied. Positive correlations were observed in S. sclerotiorum mycelial growth vs. luminosity values, mycelial dry weight vs. medium pH and mycelial dry weight vs. oxalic acid accumulation. This study indicates a high level of diversity among the S. sclerotiorum isolates from the different crops with respect to MCG, oxalic acid production and pathogenicity. Further, these results would be helpful in developing management strategies against white mold disease.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Director, ICAR- Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India for providing research facilities to conduct this study.

Funding

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plant Protection, ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute (Regional Station), 250110, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Sorabh Chaudhary, Mehi Lal & Manoj Kumar

  2. Division of Vegetable Science, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa Campus, 110012, New Delhi, India

    Sushma Sagar

  3. ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute, 170 001, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Sanjeev Sharma

  4. ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming System Research, 250110, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Amrit Lal Meena

Authors
  1. Sorabh Chaudhary
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  2. Mehi Lal
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  3. Sushma Sagar
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  4. Sanjeev Sharma
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  5. Amrit Lal Meena
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  6. Manoj Kumar
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Contributions

SC and ML contributed by conceptualization and designing the methodology and the experiments. SC collected isolates from diseased samples and along with SS performed the mycelial compatibility and pathogenicity assay. SS and ALM performed oxalic acid production assay. SC and SS wrote the original draft of the manuscript and MK and ML reviewed and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mehi Lal.

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Chaudhary, S., Lal, M., Sagar, S. et al. Variation in oxalic acid production, mycelial compatibility and pathogenicity amongst isolates of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causing white mold disease. Vegetos (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42535-023-00676-4

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