© 2016 PP House Sclerotnia Rot of Hygrophila auriculata (Schum.) Heynne. in Lateritc Zone of West Bengal, India Bholanath Mondal 1* , Papiya Debbarma 1 and Dinesh Chandra Khatua 2 1 Dept. of Plant Protection, Institute of Agriculture, Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, West Bengal (731 236), India 2 B7/305, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal (741 235), India Abstract Sclerotinia rot of Kulekhara [Hygrophila auriculata (Schum.) Heynne.] caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary was recorded probably frst time in a homestead gardens at Sriniketan (Birbhum district) under Lateritic-red agroclimatic zone of West Bengal, India during winter months of January-February, 2014 and 2015. Kulekhara is an Indian ayurvedic plant familiar for its medicinal value commonly used for increasing haemoglobin in blood. It is also used as vegetable in rural Bengal. S. sclerotiorum is one of the most devastating and cosmopolitan necrotrophic fungal plant pathogens having wide host range infects a numbers of economically important plants throughout the world. Initially water soaked lesions were produced on branches and leaves. Soon the affected area covered with white mycelial growth of the causal fungus. With progress of the disease, many plants died. Sclerotia formation was not found on the infected plants but more or less spherical large and black sclerotia were produced in soil at base of the infected plant. The pathogen did not show host specifcity. PDA medium amended with chloramphenicol was used to isolate and maintain the pathogen. White mycelium with hyaline, branched and septate hyphae was produced by the pathogen on PDA medium. Black sclerotia near spherical in shape generally were formed within 4−6 days of incubation at 25 °C. Article History Correspondence to Keywords Manuscript No. AR1621 Received in 20 th June, 2016 Received in revised form 18 th September, 2016 Accepted in fnal form 4 th October, 2016 * E-mail: bholanath.ppvb@gmail.com Ayurveda, kulekhara, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, white rot 1. Introduction Hygrophila auriculata (Schum.) Heynne. (Syn. Hygrophila spinosa T., Family Acanthaceae) is popularly known as Kulekhara. It is a leafy vegetables-cum-medicinal plant that usually grows in swampy ground in tropical and subtropical areas. Now a days, some people grow this plant in homestead garden. It is a stout herb with numerous fasciculate usually unbranched, subquadrangular, erect, stems, 0.6−1.5 m high, thickened at the nodes. Leaves are oblong-lanceolate or oblanceolate, sparsely hispid on both sides, six at a node, the outer 2 large, reaching 15 cm long, each leaf bear straight, sharp, yellow, spines in its axil. Flowers are purple-blue, 3.5 cm long, in a whorl of 8 at each node. Capsules are 8 mm long, linear-oblong, pointed. Leaves of the plants are commonly used for increasing haemoglobin in blood. In the swampy ground or homestead garden this plant grows as compact population. In the winter season of 2014 and 2015 (mainly the month of January-February), rotting of this plant was observed in homestead garden at Sriniketan (Birbhum district) under Lateritic-red agro-climatic zone of West Bengal which created an interest to explore this incidence including of its host range and pathogenicity. 2. Materials and Methods After observation of died Kulekhara plant in January, 2014 a survey was conducted throughout the winter season in the homestead gardens at Sriniketan (Birbhum district) under Lateritic-Red agroclimatic zone of West Bengal. Detailed symptoms were recorded. Infected plants were collected and brought to the laboratory for detailed investigation. The infected plants were incubated in polypropylene packet with water soaked cotton and the mouth of the packet was closed after blowing air into the packet to create humid condition. The pathogen was isolated on PDA medium amended with chloramphenicol by putting small piece of surface sterilized diseased tissue. Pure culture of the pathogen was maintained in PDA medium (Khatua et al., 2014a). General characteristics of the fungus were noted after growth on the media. Host range study was conducted by artifcial inoculation (Khatua International Journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management 2016, 7(5):1165-1167 Short Research Article 1165 HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.23910/IJBSM/2016.7.5.1621