Abstract

Sclerotium rolfsii has a world-wide distribution and has been recorded from the United States of America, Australia and numerous islands of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, China, Ceylon, Bengal, Bombay and Madras in India and from Uganda in Africa. It was first reported by Rolfs in 1893 as being parasitic on tomatoes in the United States. Since then it has been known to cause diseases of several plants-140 varieties and species- including field crops, and ornamental plants. As the cause of the rot of potatoes it has been studied by Taubenhas, Edson and Shapovalov. Under the name of Rhizoctonia destruens it was investigated by Shaw and Ajrekar in .India and it was found to be parasitic on potato, piper-betel, groundnut, Amorphophallus companulatus, lucerne, Dianthus, delphenium and rice. In a later communication Ajrekar wrote that R. destruens was identical with S. rolfsii. Paintin who worked on the parasitology of the fungus found that in addition to these hosts the fungus is capable of infecting many more and has given a list of new hosts containing plants from widely different families. Higgins writes that S. rolfsii is a soil inhabiting fungus attacking a number of wild and cultivated plants in the field. It is also a common cause of decay in stored roots and vegetables and of cucurbita and other fruits that rest in the soil. In the nurseries too this fungus causes considerable damage.

Keywords: