African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (16), pp. 1879-1881, 20 August 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Short Communication

In vitro growth of four isolates of Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc in the humid tropics

Okereke, V. C.¹* and Wokocha, R. C. ²

¹Department of Crop and Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, PMB 5323, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

²Department of Plant Health Management, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, PMB 7267, Umuahia, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: chykeoky@yahoo.com.

Accepted 26 July, 2007

Investigation was carried out on Sclerotium rolfsii isolated from four plant parts on PDA media for differences in the mycelia and sclerotia growth, in the tropical humid lowlands of Southeastern Nigeria. The result reveals that there were variation in the number and size (in diameter) of the sclerotia produced by the isolates. The mycelia growth rate was same in all the isolates covering the 9.0 cm plates at the 7 and 8 day after inoculation. These sclerotia constitute the major source of inoculum for the organism in nature.

Key words: Sclerotium rolfsii, sclerotia, mycelia, inoculum, infection loci.