Efficacy of different inoculation techniques for testing the pathogenicity of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum causing Sclerotinia blight of Brassica juncea.

Abstract

Pathogenicity of isolated fungus S. sclerotiorum was tested using four techniques of inoculation viz.,tooth pick injury method, Mycelial bit placement method, Sclerotia placement method and paraffin wax film method were evaluated to find out the most effective method for artificial screening of the disease at the experimental field of Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, RVSKVV Gwalior (M.P.) during Rabi 2014-15.Findings revealed that paraffin wax film method was most effective in causing successful stem rot infection (32.00%) followed by mycelia bit placement (25.74%) and tooth pick injury method (17.25%), while the inoculation with sclerotia was found as the least effective method. Paraffin wax film method was significantly superior over other methods. Mycelia bit placement was significantly superior over other two methods viz, tooth pick and sclerotia placement. All the methods including the least effective method that is sclerotia placement were superior over control.