Damping-off of Edible Aster Caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-4

In August 2021, we surveyed diseases of wild vegetables grown in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, Korea. During the disease survey, we observed severe damping-off symptoms in young edible aster (Aster scaber) plants in a vinyl greenhouse investigated. The incidence of the disease in the plants ranged from 5% to 20%. Diseased plants of edible aster were collected from the vinyl greenhouse, and fungi were isolated from petiole lesions of the diseased plants. Rhizoctonia sp. was consistently isolated from the petiole lesions. We examined morphological characteristics and anastomosis groups of nine Rhizoctonia sp. isolates obtained from the petiole lesions. The examination results revealed that all the isolates corresponded to Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 based on the morphological characteristics and anastomosis test. Three isolates of R. solani AG-4 were tested for their pathogenicity on edible aster plants by artificial inoculation. Inoculation tests showed that the tested isolates caused damping-off symptoms on the inoculated plants. The induced symptoms were similar to those observed in the vinyl greenhouse investigated. Damping-off of edible aster caused by R. solani AG-4 is first reported in this study.