Sclerotinia’s danger to oilseed production
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a fungal plant pathogen that can cause diseases such as white mould, stem rot and head rot, resulting in significant yield losses in crops. Early disease symptoms include soft, water-soaked lesions that lead to the wilting of infected plants’ stems and branches. Dead tissue on the host plants looks as though it has been bleached. The white ‘fluffy’ mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus, manifests either externally or internally.
The mycelium forms the survival structure of the fungus. Sclerotia are the hard, dark, resting bodies of fungi; they consist of a mass of hyphal threads and can remain
