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Suthaparan, A., Stensvand, A., Solhaug, K. A., Torre, S., Mortensen, L. M., Gadoury, D. M., Seem, R. C, and Gisler0d, H. R. 2012. Suppression of powdery mildew {Podosphaera pannosa) in greenhouse roses by brief exposure to supplemental UV-B radiation. Plant Dis. 96:1653-1660.Ultraviolet (UV)-B (280 to 315 nm) irradiance from O.I to 1.2 W m-â nd exposure times from 2 min to 2 h significantly suppressed powdery mildew {Podosphaera pannosa) in pot rose {Rosa x hybrida 'Toril') via reduced spore germination, infection efficiency, disease severity, and sporulation of surviving colonies. Brief daily exposure to UV-B suppressed disease severity by more than 90% compared with unexposed controls, and severity was held at low levels as long as daily brief exposures continued. Selective removal of wavelengths below 290 nm from the UV lamp sources by cellulose diacetate filters resulted in significant reduction of treatment efficacy. Exposure of plants to 2 h of UV-B during night for 1 week followed by inoculation with P. pannosa did not affect subsequent pathogen development, indicating that the treatment effect was directly upon the exposed pathogen and not operated through the host. Following 20 to 30 days of exposure, chlorophyll and flavonoid content was slightly higher in plants exposed to the highest UV-B levels. Brief daily exposure to UV-B for 5 min at 1.2 W m~-or 1 h at 0.

Four methods were evaluated in measuring resistance of strawberry cultivars to crown rot caused by Phytophthora cactorum. Meristem propagated plants grown in vitro were inoculated with mycelial discs. Four to five days after inoculation, it was possible to distinguish between cultivars with large differences in susceptibility to the disease. Ten days later, all plants were totally necrotic making it impossible to distinguish between cultivars. When detached leaves were inoculated by inoculating a plug of mycelium into the petiole, disease symptoms developed more slowly in resistant cultivars, but leaf age greatly affected the rate of symptom development. When plug plants (not cold stored) were lightly wounded in the rhizome with a scalpel and inoculated with either zoospores or mycelium, differences in disease development between cultivars were mainly as would be expected from previous information on susceptibility, but both age and size of plants influenced the rate of disease development. Unwounded, inoculated plants did not develop symptoms. When cold-stored plug plants were either unwounded or lightly wounded with a scalpel in the rhizome and inoculated with zoospores, the relative rates of disease development consistently reflected the susceptibility to crown rot. At the time of final assessment, disease was much more severe in wounded plants, but the relative susceptibility of cultivars was not affected by the wounding.

Maturation and release of ascospores of Venturia inaequalis were assessed at Geneva and Highland, NY, and at Durham, NH, by microscopic examination of crushed pseudothecia excised from infected apple leaves that were collected weekly from orchards (squash mounts) in 14 siteyear combinations. Airborne ascospore dose was monitored at each location in each year of the study by volumetric spore traps. Additional laboratory assessments were made at Geneva to quantify release from infected leaf segments upon wetting (discharge tests). Finally, ascospore maturity was estimated for each location using a degree-day model developed in an earlier study. Ascospore maturation and release determined by squash mounts and discharge tests lagged significantly behind cumulative ascospore release as measured by volumetric spore traps in the field. The mean date of 98% ascospore discharge as determined by squash mounts or discharge tests occurred from 23 to 28 days after the mean date on which 98% cumulative ascospore release had been detected by volumetric traps. In contrast, cumulative ascospore maturity estimated by the degree-day model was highly correlated (r2 = 0.82) with observed cumulative ascospore release as monitored by the volumetric traps. Although large differences between predicted maturity and observed discharge were common during the exponential phase of ascospore development, the date of 98% cumulative ascospore maturity predicted by the model was generally within 1 to 9 calendar days of the date of 98% cumulative ascospore recovery in the volumetric traps. Cumulative ascospore discharge as monitored by the volumetric traps always exceeded 98% at 600 degree days (base = 0°C) after green tip. Estimating the relative quantity of primary inoculum indirectly by means of a degree-day model was more closely aligned with observed ascospore release, as measured by volumetric traps, than actual assessments of ascospore maturity and discharge obtained through squash mounts and discharge tests. The degree-day model, therefore, may be a more accurate predictor of ascospore depletion than squash mounts or discharged tests, and has the added advantage that it can be widely applied to generate site-specific estimates of ascospore maturity for any location where daily temperature data are available.

Preharvest cuticular fractures in sweet cherry fruit have been suggested to facilitate pathogen invasion, and a method to classify the mount of cuticular fracturing into five categories (from 1 = no visible fractures to 5 = severe fracturing) has previously been proposed. Sweet cherry fruit of the four cultivars Early Burlat, Lapins, Van, and Vista were sorted into these five categories of cuticular fracturing and inoculated with conidial suspensions of either Botrytis cinerea or Monilinia laxa. After incubating the fruit at 20°C and 100% relative humidity for 4 to 7 days, they were assessed for visible fungal growth. Due to quiescent infections of M. laxa, fruit treated with B. cinerea developed more brown rot than gray mold. However, a significant linear relation (P < 0.05) between the amount of cuticular fracturing and fungal infections was obtained in five of seven trials with B. cinerea and in two of four trials with M. laxa, indicating that fungal infections in sweet cherry fruit may be facilitated by cuticular fractures. Independent of cultivar and year, a significant linear relation was found between the category of cuticular fracturing and percentage of infected fruit after inoculation with both B. cinerea and M. laxa, and in control fruit (P = 0.0001, 0.0183, and 0.0182, respectively). This is the first report quantifying an increase in fungal infection with increasing amount of cuticular fracturing. The mean difference in fruit rot (%) ± standard deviation among fruit in fracturing categories 1 and 5, expressed as the linear contrast of amount of fruit rot in category 5 minus amount of fruit rot in category 1, was 37.2 ± 7.4 (P = 0.0001), 35.4 ± 11.0 (P = 0.0022), 17.0 ± 6.7 (P = 0.0135), and 29.8 ± 4.7 (P = 0.0001), after treatments with B. cinerea, M. laxa, water control, and for all data pooled, respectively.

When rose plants bearing colonies of Podosphaera pannosa were placed in a wind tunnel, the number of conidia trapped was directly proportional to intensity of daylight-balanced (white) light from 5 to 150 μmol m–2 s–1. Illumination of samples using blue (420 to 520 nm) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) increased the number of conidia trapped by a factor of approximately 2.7 over white light but germination of conidia under blue light was reduced by approximately 16.5% compared with conidia germination under white light. The number of conidia trapped under far-red (>685 nm) LEDs was approximately 4.7 times higher than in white light, and 13.3 times higher than under red (575 to 675 nm) LEDs, and germination was not induced compared with white light. When mildewed plants were exposed to cycles of 18 h of white light followed by 6 h of blue, red, far-red light, or darkness, light from the red LEDs reduced the number of conidia trapped by approximately 88% compared with darkness or far-red light. Interrupting the above dark period with 1 h of light from red LEDs also reduced the number of conidia trapped, while a 1-h period of light from far-red following the 1 h of light from red LEDs nullified the suppressive effect of red light. Our results indicate that brief exposure to red light during the dark interval may be as effective as continuous illumination in suppressing powdery mildew in greenhouse rose plant (Rosa × hybrida).

Mills' infection period table describes the number of hours of continuous leaf wetness required at temperatures from 6 to 25 degrees C for infection of apple leaves by ascospores of Venturia inaequalis and reports that conidia require approximately two-thirds the duration of leaf wetness required by ascospores at any given temperature. Mills' table also provides a general guideline that more than 2 days of wetting is required for leaf infection by ascospores below 6 degrees C. Although the table is widely used, infection times shorter than those in the table have been reported in lab and field studies. In 1989 a published revision of the table eliminated a potential source of error, the delay of ascospore release until dawn when rain begins at night, and shortened the times reported by Mills for ascospore infection by 3 h at all temperatures. Data to support the infection times below 6 degrees C were lacking, however. Our objective was to quantify the effects of low temperatures on ascospore discharge, ascospore infection, and infection by conidia. In two of three experiments at 1 degrees C, the initial release of ascospores occurred after 131 and 153 min. In the third experiment at 1 degrees C, no ascospores were detected during the first 6 h. The mean time required to exceed a cumulative catch of 1% was 143 min at 2 degrees C, 67 min at 4 degrees C, 56 min at 6 degrees C, and 40 min at 8 degrees C. At 4, 6, and 8 degrees C, the mean times required to exceed a cumulative catch of 5% were 103, 84, and 53 min, respectively. Infection of potted apple trees by ascospores at 2, 4, 6, and 8 degrees C required 35, 28, 18, and 13 h, respectively; substantially shorter times than previously were reported. In parallel inoculations of potted apple trees, conidia required approximately the same periods of leaf wetness as ascospores at temperatures from 2 to 8 degrees C, rather than the shorter times reported by Mills or the longer times reported in the revision of the Mills table. We propose the following revisions to infection period tables: (i) shorter minimum infection times for ascospores and conidia at or below 8 degrees C, and (ii) because both ascospores and conidia are often present simultaneously during the season of ascospore production and the required minimum infection times appear to be similar for both spore types, the adoption of a uniform set of criteria for ascosporic and conidial infection based on times required for infection by ascospores to be applied during the period prior to the exhaustion of the ascospore supply. Further revisions of infection times for ascospores may be warranted in view of the delay of ascospore discharge and the reduction of airborne ascospore doses at temperatures at or below 2 degrees C.