Stem rot caused by Sclerotium rolfsii is an important problem of Jerusalem artichoke, and breeding of Jerusalem artichoke for resistance to stem rot requires effective screening methods. The objective of this study was to compare methods for inoculating Jerusalem artichoke with S. rolfsii under field conditions. A 4 × 2 × 3 factorial in a randomized complete block with four replications was used in two environments characterized by different rates of fertilizer application (recommended rate and low rate) in the rainy season. The factors included four Jerusalem artichoke varieties (HEL280, HEL278, HEL256 and JA49), two levels of wounding (wounded and not wounded) and three methods of inoculation. The inoculation methods consisted of: 1) non-inoculated natural infection; 2) attaching one colonized sorghum seed at the crown of plants (single sorghum seed method); and 3) spreading 30 g m −2 of colonized sorghum seeds (broadcast inoculation method). Jerusalem artichoke varieties and inoculation methods were significantly different for disease incidence, whereas the difference between wounded and non wounded treatments was not significant.Significant interactions were found between the variety and wounding method, the variety and inoculation method, wounding method and inoculation method, and inoculation method and environments. Natural infection resulted in the lowest disease incidence (32.2 %), whereas the single sorghum seed and the broadcast inoculation methods had a high disease incidence (79.0 % and 77.3 % respectively) and were not signnificantly different from each other. Broadcast inoculation did not allow differentiation of Jerusalem artichoke varieties for disease incidence, whereas single seed inoculation could better identify the differences among Jerusalem artichoke varieties.

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Stem rot is a serious disease in Jerusalem artichoke (JA). To reduce the impact of this disease on yield and quality farmers often use fungicides, but this control method can be expensive and leave chemical residues. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of two biological control agents, Trichoderma harzianum T9 and Bacillus firmus BSR032 for control of Sclerotium rolfsii under field conditions. Four accessions of JA (HEL246, HEL65, JA47, and JA12) were treated or notreated with T. harzianum T9 and B. firmus BSR032 in a 4 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment in two fields (environments), one unfertilized and one fertilized. Plants were inoculated with S. rolfsii and disease was evaluated at 3-day intervals for 46 days. T. harzianum T9 and B. firmus BSR032 reduced disease incidence by 48% and 49%, respectively, whereas T. harzianum T9 + B. firmus BSR032 reduced disease incidence by 37%. The efficacy of T. harzianum T9 and B. firmus BSR032 for control of S. rolfsii was dependent on environments and genotypes. The expression of host plant resistance also depended on the environment. However, HEL246 showed consistently low disease incidence and severity index in both environments (fertilized and unfertilized). Individually, T. harzianum T9, B. firmus BSR032, or host plant resistance control stem rot caused by S. rolfsii in JA. However, no combination of these treatments provided more effective control than each alone.

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