No abstract

Chitosan and acibenzolar-S-methyl could directly inhibit the growth of Botrytis cinerea in vitro and confer resistance on grapes against grey mould. Pretreatment with these compounds could be an alternative to traditional fungicides in post-harvest disease control in grapes.

No abstract

The pathogenic fungi Verticillium alboatrum and Diplodia scrobiculata were assayed for biological control of Diplodia pinea on Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). Young shoots were pre-treated with inoculations of either V. dahliae or D. scrobiculata, by placing colonized agar plugs on wounds made by removing a single needle fascicle. An inoculation with D. pinea was performed 15 days later. Two months after the shoot inoculations, the canker length on the stems was measured and the percentage of shoot dieback calculated. Verticillium dahliae and D. scrobiculata were found to significantly reduce the canker length of D. pinea (P<0.05) when compared with positive controls. Diplodia pinea was slightly more sensitive to V. dahliae than to D. scrobiculata, but no significant differences (P>0.05) were observed in the mean canker length between the two treatments. Trees preinoculated with V. dahliae resulted in 31.12% shoot dieback, while those pre-inoculated with D. scrobiculata resulted in 32.18% shoot dieback, compared with positive controls (42.85%).