First Report of Gray Mold Caused by Botrytis cinerea on Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) in Korea
In July 2014, we collected samples of gray mold from red raspberry growing in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Korea. The disease symptoms were dark brown lesions covered with gray spore masses on the twigs, blossoms, leaves, and fruits of infected plants. We isolated the pathogen from infected leaves and fruits and cultured the fungus on potato dextrose agar. We examined the fungus morphologically and confirmed its pathogenicity according to Koch's postulates. The results of morphological examinations, pathogenicity tests, and the rDNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1 and ITS4) and the nuclear protein coding gene HSP60 revealed that the causal agent was Botrytis cinerea. This is the first report of gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea on red raspberry in Korea.