Abstract:Two types of rape Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolates, the autumn-germination isolates (autumn isolates) and the spring-germination isolates (spring isolates), were isolated from a single field of oilseed rape in Xianning City of Hubei Province. Nine autumn isolates (aSs-1 to aSs-9) and nine spring isolates (sSs-1 to sSs-9) were compared to find out the growth and production of sclerotia on potato dextrose agar (20℃) and the pathogenicity on the leaves of oilseed rape. The results showed that the two types of isolates had no significant differences (P>0.05) in growth rate, number of sclerotia per dish, sclerotial size and lesion diameter on leaves of oilseed rape. Two representative isolates, aSs-3 and sSs-1, were further compared for sclerotial germination under different inducing temperature, the results showed that sclerotial forming and inducing temperature affect sclerotial germination in indoors and the field experiment, and it is more easily to germinate for sclerotia formed at high temperature condition than at low temperature condition. These results suggest that the autumn isolates and the spring isolates of S. sclerotiorum differed greatly in sclerotial germination behavior.