Phytophthora syringae, P. drechsleri, P. cactarutn, P. cambiuora and P. megasperma were isolated from the roots of red raspberry plants affected by severe root and crown rot with associated cane death. Phytophthora megasperma occurred most frequently and consisted of two types of isolates which differed in colony morphology, growth rates, and oogonial, oospore, sporangial and zoospore size, and pathogenicity to a range of plants. One type with large oospores was typical of P. megasperma var. megasperma, and was non‐pathogenic to red raspberries, while the other with smaller oospores and which grew more slowly in culture than the first, was highly pathogenic, producing symptoms similar to those observed in the field. Highly pathogenic isolates from Germany and the USA were of this type.
All red and black raspberry cultivars tested were susceptible to the pathogenic type, although North American cultivars were generally less affected than British ones. Inoculated plants had reduced shoot and root weights, stem lesions and wilted and yellowed leaves. The blackberry × raspberry hybrid Tayberry and its blackberry parent were immune.
Phytophthora drechsleri, P. cactorum and P. cambivora produced small to moderate amounts of root rot on red raspberry, and P. cambivora also caused slight symptoms on shoots.
A bioassay was used to monitor the release of inoculum in drainage water from strawberry plants inoculated with zoospores of Phytophthora fragariae var. fragariae. The fungus was detected in drainage water from plants that had been held at temperatures between 2 and 20 C. but not from plants held at 26°C. The lag phase before secondary inoculum was first released, the maximum and total amounts of inoculum released, and the length of time over which inoculum was released were all greater at the lower temperature regimes, especially those below 10 C. The results were consistent with observations on the effect of temperature on zoospore production from agar discs and on zoospore motility: more zoospores were produced at lower temperatures and they remained motile for longer. From this it is concluded that the inoculum detected consists mainly of motile zoospores. In most experiments with standardized suspensions c. 10‐15 were sufficient to initiate infection of the plants in the bioassay. In general, more inoculum was produced by host genotype/fungal isolate combinations in which there were marked root rot symptoms than in combinations in which the host was resistant.
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