Research on biology and control of Sclerotinia diseases in Canada

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary and Sclerotinia minor Jagger are tw o of the species in the genus Sclerotinia found in Canada. While S. sclerot iorum is distributed country-wide and causes disease on numerous economical ly important crops including oilseeds, pulses, forage legumes, vegetables, and ornamentals, S. minor has only been reported on lettuce in Quebec and O ntario. During the past five decades, Canadian researchers have made a subs tantial contribution to the understanding of the biology and control of S. sclerotiorum and, to a lesser extent, of S. minor: This review summarizes t he progress of Canadian research on Sclerotinia diseases in the past 50 yea rs, with specific emphasis in the areas such as strain differentiation, epi demiology, new types of sclerotia, survival and germination of sclerotia, a nd biocontrol.