Rhizoctonia Anastomosis Groups Associated with Diseased Rooibos Seedlings and the Potential of Compost as Soil Amendment for Disease Suppression.

Rhizoctonia spp. associated with rooibos in the Western Cape province of South Africa were recovered during the 2008 season by planting seedlings in rhizosphere soils collected from 14 rooibos nurseries. In all, 75 Rhizoctonia isolates were obtained, of which 67 were multinucleate and 8 were binucleate Rhizoctonia spp. The identity of these isolates to anastomosis group (AG) was determined through sequence analysis of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region. The collection of multinucleate isolates included representatives of AG-2-2 (67%), AG-4 HGI (14%), AG-11 (5%), and R. zeae (3%). Binucleate AGs included AG-Bo (4%) and AG-K (4%) and an unidentified binucleate Rhizoctonia (3%). Rhizoctonia solani AG-2-2 was the most widely distributed species of Rhizoctonia detected among the 11 nurseries sampled. All AGs recovered from rooibos have been previously reported on crop plants in South Africa, with the exception of R. zeae. However, this is the first study to classify the Rhizoctonia AGs recovered from rooibos. In glasshouse bioassays, the most virulent Rhizoctonia AGs on rooibos and lupin were AG-2-2, AG-4 HGI, and AG-11. Although plant damage was less than that observed for lupin and rooibos, oat was significantly affected by AG-2-2 and AG-4 HGI. Two composts sourced from independent suppliers were evaluated for disease suppression under glasshouse conditions. Compost amendment suppressed damping-off by most R. solani AGs, except for AG-4 HGI. Furthermore, within AG-2-2, suppression by compost was isolate specific.