The anamorphic state of a powdery mildew, which first appeared on tomato in the UK in 1987, currently listed as Erysiphe orontii (anamorph Oidium violae), was examined microscopically on both tomato and alternative hosts. Host range studies were also carried out. In 1993-95, species and cultivars of plants from 26 of the 30 families listed as hosts of E. orontii were inoculated with tomato powdery mildew in the glasshouse and assessed for susceptibility on a 0-3 scale based on degree of sporulation and growth. Thirteen families contained species or varieties that were susceptible and a total of 80 varieties, including many economically important Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae, supported sporulation to some extent (susceptibility score 1-3). Necrosis was not a constant feature of plants exhibiting resistance, as it could accompany sporulation on some susceptible varieties. Microscopic measurements showed that conidial size, conidiophore length, conidiophore foot-cell length and width, and the number of cells distal to the foot-cell were remarkably constant between samples of powdery mildew taken from tomato each year and from the various alternative hosts. Based on the production of conidia singly, the presence of nipple-shaped to moderately lobed appressoria, and occurrence of straight conidiophores, it is concluded that this fungus on tomato should more correctly be named Oidium lycopersicum until the sexual stage is discovered. The highly polyphagous nature of this powdery mildew would suggest that it represents a potential risk to UK agriculture and horticulture, but the failure to recover any powdery mildew from 120 samples of potato, including varieties Cara and Maris Piper, on which the tomato powdery mildew could sporulate in the glasshouse, suggests that environmental factors may play a key role in preventing establishment of this powdery mildew on alternative hosts on a commercial scale in the field.
Coniothyrium minitans, Trichoderma harzianum (HH3) and Trichoderma sp. (B1) were tested for ability to control disease caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in a sequence of a celery crop and two lettuce crops in the glasshouse. In control plots, over 80% of celery and 90 and 60% of lettuce in first and second crops, respectively, were infected at harvest. Only the C. minitaris treatment in the first lettuce crop decreased disease and increased marketable yield. Nevertheless, C. minitans reduced the number of sclerotia recovered at harvest in the celery and first lettuce crops and decreased sclerotial survival over the autumn fallow periods following the celery and second lettuce crop. C. minitans survived in soil for over 1 year and spread to infect sclerotia in virtually all other plots. C. minitans infected sclerotia at all times of the year but sclerotia still failed to degrade during the summer months when the soil was dry. The Trichoderma species tested had no effect on disease and almost no effect on the survival of the sclerotia. even though they could be recovered from soil for the duration of the experiments.
All pesticides used in United Kingdom glasshouse lettuce production (six fungicides, four insecticides, and one herbicide) were evaluated for their effects on Coniothyrium minitans mycelial growth and spore germination in vitro agar plate tests. Only the fungicides had a significant effect with all three strains of C. minitans tested, being highly sensitive to iprodione (50% effective concentration [EC50] 7 to 18 μg a.i. ml-1), moderately sensitive to thiram (EC50 52 to 106 μg a.i. ml-1), but less sensitive to the remaining fungicides (EC50 over 200 μg a.i. ml-1). Subsequently, all pesticides were assessed for their effect on the ability of C. minitans applied as a solid substrate inoculum to infect sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum in soil tray tests. Despite weekly applications of pesticides at twice their recommended concentrations, C. minitans survived in the soil and infected sclerotia equally in all pesticide-treated and untreated control soil trays. This demonstrated the importance of assessing pesticide compatibility in environmentally relevant tests. Based on these results, solid substrate inoculum of a standard and an iprodione-tolerant strain of C. minitans were applied individually to S. sclerotiorum-infested soil in a glasshouse before planting lettuce crops. The effect of a single spray application of iprodione on disease control in the C. minitans treatments was assessed. Disease caused by S. sclerotiorum was significantly reduced by C. minitans and was enhanced by a single application of iprodione, regardless of whether the biocontrol agent was iprodione-tolerant. In a second experiment, disease control achieved by a combination of C. minitans and a single application of iprodione was shown to be equivalent to that of prophylactic sprays with iprodione every 2 weeks. The fungicide did not affect the ability of C. minitans to spread into plots where only the fungicide was applied and to infect sclerotia. These results indicate that integrated control of S. sclerotiorum with soil applications of C. minitans and reduced foliar iprodione applications was feasible, did not require a fungicide tolerant isolate, and that suppression of Sclerotinia disease by C. minitans under existing chemical control regimes has credence.
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