Epidemiology of Sclerotinia Diseases

Estimating the Climate Niche of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Using Maximum Entropy Modeling

“…S. sclerotiorum taxonomy follows the classification of kingdom Fungi, phylum Ascomycota, class Leotiomycetes, order Helotiales, family Sclerotiniaceae, genus Sclerotinia , and species sclerotiorum [ 25 ]. During the life cycle of the fungus, S. sclerotiorum produces survival sclerotia structures which can either germinate myceliogenically in the presence of nutrients or germinate carpogenically after environmental conditioning [ 2 , 4 , 26 ]. Plant infection can occur by myceliogenic germination from sclerotia in soil or by ascospores released from apothecia developed from the carpogenic germination of sclerotia [ 2 , 26 ].…”

“…Plant infection can occur by myceliogenic germination from sclerotia in soil or by ascospores released from apothecia developed from the carpogenic germination of sclerotia [ 2 , 26 ]. Apothecia release ascospores which are carried by wind currents and land on nearby susceptible plant hosts [ 4 ]. Ascospores require water to germinate and nutrients to infect healthy plant tissue [ 12 , 27 ].…”

“…Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary, an ascomycetous fungal plant pathogen, is found worldwide on over 500 plant species such as sunflower, soybean, oilseed crops, peanut, onion, and tulips within dicot and monocot plant groups [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. This fungal disease was previously reported to cause over USD 200 million in annual losses in the USA [ 2 , 4 ], and soybean production reports (2010 to 2014) indicate 2.8 million metric tons of yield loss with a loss value of USD 1.2 billion [ 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…de Bary, an ascomycetous fungal plant pathogen, is found worldwide on over 500 plant species such as sunflower, soybean, oilseed crops, peanut, onion, and tulips within dicot and monocot plant groups [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. This fungal disease was previously reported to cause over USD 200 million in annual losses in the USA [ 2 , 4 ], and soybean production reports (2010 to 2014) indicate 2.8 million metric tons of yield loss with a loss value of USD 1.2 billion [ 2 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Disease reports indicate that S. sclerotiorum is found in most parts of the world, including Canada, the USA, Central America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and the disease it causes is commonly known as Sclerotinia stem rot or white mold disease depending on the infected host plant species [ 3 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”