GENETIC AND AGGRESSIVENESS VARIATION AMONG Sclerotinia sclerotiorum DRY BEAN ISOLATES FROM BRAZIL FIELDS

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, infection of bean fields, has increased in Brazil. Fungicides application is the control strategy used due to lack of cultivars with complete disease resistance. To guide the use of isolates in resistance screening 25 S. sclerotiorum isolates from Brazilian dry bean fields were characterized using microsatellite markers, mycelial compatibility groups (MCGs) and aggressiveness. Microsatellite primer pairs were used to identify polymorphisms among the S. sclerotiorum isolates and MCGs were determined from interaction of all isolates grown side-by-side. Aggressiveness was derived from a straw test where fungal mycelium was placed over a cut bean stem and rated for disease progress. Data from microsatellite profiles grouped the 25 isolates into four clusters and seven MCGs were identified. No association among host cultivar and cluster or MCG of isolates was observed. For MCGs, 57% contained isolates sampled frequently over multiple locations and 43% contained isolates unique to locations. There were significant differences among isolates in aggressiveness within and between MCGs. The most aggressive isolates in resistance screening will be helpful in the identification of higher levels of resistance in bean germplasm/lines.