Reaction of Oilseed Rape Cultivars to Sclerotinia Stem Rot in Field Environ- ments

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, as an ubiquitous phytopathogenic Ascomycete fungus capable of infecting a wide range of plants, has increased in importance for oilseed rape production worldwide in recent years. The objective of this research was to determine the effectiveness of two measurements of disease rating in predicting the field reaction of cultivars to sclerotinia stem rot. One hundred and ten cultivars or lines of oilseed rape were repeatedly evaluated the disease severity index (DSI) and lesion length for their resistance to nine isolates of S. sclerotiorum in two field stations. There were greatly significant differences between two stations, among isolates, among population of cultivars for the disease severity index and lesion length, and also significant station×isolate interaction for lesion length and population×isolate interactions for DSI and lesion length, but interactions of station×isolate for DSI were not significant. Cultivars such as Pomorzanin and Lisek consistently had the lowest disease severity ratings in the field tests. However, most of cultivars were susceptible to sclerotinia stem rot in the field test. A positive correlation between the mean DSI and lesion length was found for both isolates (Sc23 and B1). The correlations ranged from 0.23 to 0.83 at various plots, with nine of the twelve correlations significant. The correlations for disease caused by different fungal isolates were statistically significant difference. These correlations ranged from -0.44 to 0.90, with nine of the thirty-two correlations significant. It indicated that resistance to some isolates was significantly correlated and selection of some varieties for resistance to one isolate appeared to improve resistance to other isolates.