Plant pathologists in the region saw many diseased soybean plants with symptoms similar to Rhizoctonia root rot, but many plants were not found to be infected by Rhizoctonia solani . The ISU Plant Disease Clinic also received numerous soybean samples with reddish-brown root rot symptoms. Isolation results indicated that many samples were Rhizoctonia root rot, but many others were not. Reddish-brown lesions common to two kinds of root rot. The Mycoleptodiscus terrestris is quite different from Rhizoctonia solani and is not easy to identify after isolation.
Observations made in southern Illinois indicate that the fungus also attacks soybean seedlings.
A typical symptom of the disease is reddish-brown lesions on basal stems. Root rot by this disease can result in reduction of root weight, according to one greenhouse study. The fungus also causes crown and root rot in alfalfa and red clover. An early study showed that strains of this fungus from red clover also can attack soybean. Currently, very little information is available on this disease in terms of economic importance and management.