Occurrence and Anastomosis Grouping of Rhizoctonia spp. Inducing Black Scurf and Greyish-White Felt-Like Mycelium on Carrot in Sweden

Carrots with different Rhizoctonia-like symptoms were found in the main Swedish carrot production areas from 2001-2020. The most commonly observed symptoms were a greyish-white felt-like mycelium and black scurf, the latter often associated with Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis group (AG) 3-PT on potato. An overall increase in disease incidence in all studied fields over time was observed for both symptoms. The majority of Rhizoctonia isolates sampled from carrot in the period 2015-2020 were identified as AG 3 (45%) and AG 5 (24%), followed by AG 1-IB (13%), AG 11 (5%), AG-E (5%), AG BI (3%), AG-K (3%) and AG 4-HGII (2%). To our knowledge, this is the first report describing AG 5 in Sweden as well as AG 3, AG 11 and AG-E inducing Rhizoctonia-like symptoms on carrot. Secondly, we report for the first time that R. solani AG 3, and the less observed AGs: AG 1-IB and AG 5 can induce black scurf symptoms on the taproot of carrots. Due to a widely used carrot-potato crop rotation in Swedish areas, a possible cross-over from potato to carrot is suggested. This information is of high importance to reduce Rhizoctonia inoculum in soils, since avoiding carrot-potato crop rotations needs to be considered.