Occurrence of Gray Mold on Blueberry Trees Caused by Botrytis cinerea in Korea

Gray mold symptoms were frequently observed on green twigs, blossoms, leaves, and fruits of blueberry trees grown in greenhouses in Cheongyang, Dangjin, Daejeon, and Jeju during disease survey in eight locations of Korea from 2007 to 2010. The disease symptoms were not observed in the fields of the other locations investigated. The disease incidence ranged 1~30% in the greenhouses investigated. A total of 27 single spore isolates of Botrytis species were obtained from the gray mold symptoms, and all the isolates were identified as Botrytis cinerea based on their morphological and cultural characteristics. Four isolates of the fungus were tested for pathogenicity to leaves of four varieties of blueberry trees by artificial inoculation with conidial suspensions. All the tested isolates caused gray mold symptoms on the leaves, which were similar to those observed in the greenhouses. This is the first report that B. cinerea causes gray mold of blueberry trees grown in greenhouses in Korea.