Variation in growth and oxalic acid production by different crop isolates of Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.
Gawande S. P., Borkar S. G., Chimote V. P.
Author Affiliation: Ramie Research Station, Under Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibre (ICAR), Sorbhog, Barpeta, Assam 781 317, India.
Journal of Mycopathological Research 51 : 95-100
Abstract : Six different culture media were used to study variation in growth characteristics of ten (10) different crop isolates of S. rolfsii viz., chickpea, cotton, wheat, isabgol, groundnut, sugar beet, tuberose, mango, tomato and bottle gourd and the results indicated that the growth rate of all the isolates were different on different media. The mean growth rate of these isolates were in the range of 16.49 to 22.24 mm/day. On Browns agar medium some S. rolfsii isolate formed the basidial stage. The oxalic acid production by these fungus was not correlated to biomass (mycelial mat) produced by S. rolfsii and varied significantly among different crop isolates. Production of oxalic acid was maximum during 14-21 days of mycelial growth of S. rolfsii. The culture filtrate of nine different crop isolates containing oxalic acid when tested on chickpea seedings exhibited variation in the mortality percentage of chickpea seedling. The mortality percentage was higher due to culture filtrate of sugar beet isolate followed by bottle gourd isolate, which was more due to more amount of oxalic acid persent. The oxalic acid produced by Sclerotium rolfsii was non host specific.