Collar rot is a symptomatically described disease that is usually caused by any one of various fungal and oomycete plant pathogens. It is present where the pathogen causes a lesion localized at or about the collet between the stem and the root. The lesions develop around the stem eventually forming a "collar". Observationally, collar rot grades into "basal stem rot", and with some pathogens is the first phase of "basal stem rot" often followed by "root rot". Collar rot is most often observed in seedings grown in infected soil. The pathogens that cause collar rot may be species or genera specific. But generalist pathogens such as Agroathelia rolfsii (aka Sclerotium rolfsii or Athelia rolfsii) are known to attack over 200 different species.[1] While bacteria caused collar rot is not common, trees infected with Fire blight (Erwinia amylovora) may develop collar rot.[2] Non-parasitic collar rot may be caused by winter damage.[3]
The symptomatically described disease Southern blight is often the first observed precursor of the collar rot caused by the fungus Agroathelia rolfsii. Causally known as Sclerotial blight,[4]Agroathelia rolfsii survives in the soil as sclerotia, and in infected decomposing plant material as mycelia.[5]
Collar rot that is caused by the oomycete Phytophthora is causally called Phytophthora collar rot, and is a common disease of fruit and nut trees,[5][6] as well as other flowers[7] and crops.[8][9]Phytophthora species remain in the soil, as spores, and in infected plant tissue, as mycelia, so absent control measures (sterilization, toxic applications) the disease continues so long as susceptible plants are grown in that soil.[5][10]
^ abThomson, Sherman V.; Scott, C. Ockey (1998). "Utah Pests Fact Sheet: Phytophthora Crown and Collar Rot". Utah Plant Disease Control No. 6. Utah State University Extension and Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Lab (UPPDL). Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
^Erwin, D. C.; Bartnicki-Garcia, S.; Tsao, P. H. (1983). Phytophthora, its Biology, Taxonomy and Pathology. St. Paul, Minnesota: The American Phytopathological Society. ISBN978-0-89054-050-3.
^Snover-Clift, Karen; Jensen-Tracey, Sandra (2011). "Crown Canker of Dogwood, Phytophthora cactorum"(PDF). Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University. Archived(PDF) from the original on 14 June 2012.
^Reddy, P. Parvatha (2014). "Solanaceous Vegetable Crops, 8.3.2 Collar Rot, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Sclerotium rolfsii". Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria for Horticultural Crop Protection. New Delhi, India: Springer Verlag. pp. 162–163. doi:10.1007/978-81-322-1973-6. ISBN978-81-322-1972-9. S2CID44837424.
^Pravi, V.; Jeeva, M. L.; Archana, P. V. (2014). "Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Sclerotium rolfsii Associated with Collar Rot Disease of Amorphophallus paeoniifolius by Species-Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay". Molecular Biotechnology. 56 (9): 787–794. doi:10.1007/s12033-014-9757-x. PMID24788585. S2CID10370740.
^Mizra, S. M.; Khokhar, L. K. (1985). "Occurrence of sunflower collar rot diseases caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Pakistan". Helia. 8: 41–43.
^Gulya, Thomas; Rashid, Khalid Y.; Masirevic, Stevan M. (1997). "Sunflower diseases". In Schneiter, Albert A. (ed.). Sunflower technology and production. Madison, Wisconsin: Soil Science Society of America. pp. 263–379. doi:10.2134/agronmonogr35.c6. ISBN978-0-89118-227-6.