Analysis of Sclerotinia Expression Due to Sclerotium rolfsii Fungus in Market Gardening Crops in the Different Agroecological Zones of Côte d’Ivoire

In Côte d’Ivoire, the craze for market gardening is due, in large part, to the high demand of vegetables in urban markets especially during off-season periods. However, the yields are subject to the destructive action of dreadful enemies of such crops, including the pathogenic fungus Sclerotium rolfsii. A study on this pathogen was conducted during 12 months in the different agroecological zones (AEZ) of Côte d’Ivoire. Collections were made on pepper, tomato and eggplant crops in six agroecological zones and 93 isolates were obtained and kept in the fungal collection. The most infected zone was the humid forest zone so-called AEZ I where the attack rate was 48.38%. The other agroecological zones II, III, IV, V and VI had infection rates respectively of: 16.13%, 0%, 9.68%; 20.43% and 5.38%. Thus at the end of this survey, tomato was the most sensitive crop to the parasite compared with eggplant and pepper. And then, The AEZ I isolates had faster mycelial growth than those of the other AEZ. Finally, Of all isolates, eight morphological types were distinguished according to the production of sclerotia and air aspect of mycelium.