Sclerotia morphology traits and mycelial growth rate are not informative variables for population studies of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

The usefulness of sclerotia morphology traits and mycelial growth rate to infer phenotypic variability in populations of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum associated with common beans in Minas Gerais State (MG) was assessed in two experiments. Isolates (131) were collected in the Northwestern, Alto Paranaíba, Zona da Mata and Southern regions of MG and the mycelial growth rate, the number, weight and dimensions (length, width and thickness) of sclerotia and mycelial pigmentation were assessed. There was a high variability among isolates, even among colonies of the same isolate. The variance of the fir...