doi: 10.4489/KJM.520103 Citation BibTeX RIS Mendeley

First Report of Sarocladium strictum Causing Sheath Rot of Rice (Oryza sativa) in Korea

First Report of Sarocladium strictum Causing Sheath Rot of Rice (Oryza sativa) in Korea

• Berrick Ochieng (Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju 55365, Korea)
• Sung Kee Hong (Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju 55365, Korea)
• Oliul Hassan (Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju 55365, Korea)
• Hyunjoo Ryu (Crop Protection Division, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju 55365, Korea)

Rice sheath rot causes yield losses of up to 85% in rice-growing areas worldwide. In September 2023, the disease was detected in rice fields at the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Wanju, Korea. Two isolates (FD00214 and FD00215) were collected from symptomatic rice sheaths and identified as Sarocladium strictum based on their morphological characteristics and molecular sequencing of two genomic regions: the internal transcribed spacer and actin. Pathogenicity tests confirmed that S. strictum were the cause of the disease. To our knowledge, this is the first report of rice sheath rot caused by S. strictum in South Korea.