Research on biology and control of Sclerotinia diseases in Canada

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary and Sclerotinia minor Jagger are two of the species in the genus Sclerotinia found in Canada. While S. sclerotiorum is distributed country-wide and causes disease on numerous economically important crops including oilseeds, pulses, forage legumes, vegetables, and ornamentals, S. minor has only been reported on lettuce in Quebec and Ontario. During the past five decades, Canadian researchers have made a substantial contribution to the understanding of the biology and control of S. sclerotiorum and, to a lesser extent, of S. minor: This review summarizes the progress of Canadian research on Sclerotinia diseases in the past 50 years, with specific emphasis in the areas such as strain differentiation, epidemiology, new types of sclerotia, survival and germination of sclerotia, and biocontrol.