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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2010

2009

Abstract

Several non-chemical control agents are now registered and available for control of powdery mildews. However, there is little or no information about their efficacy against strawberry powdery mildew, caused by Podosphera aphanis. Trials were conducted to compare the performance of non-chemical control agents to chemical fungicides under laboratory, greenhouse and high plastic tunnel conditions. The treatments included: AQ10 (active ingredient is Ampelomyces quisqualis, a hyperparasite on powdery mildew), AQ10 + Silwet Gold (organosilicon adjuvant, enhances distribution and wetting), Vacciplant (active ingredient is laminarin, an extract from brown algae), JMS Stylet oil (mineral oil), Rape seed oil + detergent, Thiovit (wettable sulphur), Topas 100 EC (penconazole) + Candit (kresoximmethyl) and water as control. In the greenhouse, one quarter of the recommended dose was used either daily in one experiment or three times per week in another. In the field, half of recommended rates were applied twice weekly. Both in the greenhouse and tunnel experiments, the chemical control Topas + Candit and AQ10 + Silwet Gold significantly reduced disease severity. AQ10,Vacciplant and Thiovit were moderately effective when applied daily in the greenhouse trial, but not significantly different from the water control when applied three time per week in the greenhouse and twice a week in the tunnel experiment. In the plastic tunnel, the JMS stylet oil and Rape seed oil + detergent treatments caused severe phytotoxic reaction (necrosis). AQ10 used alone had the poorest performance in the tunnel. This indicated that the spreader either enhances the effect of AQ10 and/or the spreader itself had an effect. In laboratory experiments with powdery mildew grown on strawberry leaflets in Petri dishes, spore germination after treatments with water, Stylet oil, Candit and Thiovit were 74, 53, 8 and 7%, respectively. The effect of Thiovit found in the laboratory was not reflected in the greenhouse and plastic tunnel trials. We will further explore the protectant, curative and eradicative effects of the compounds included here.

Abstract

Development of ontogenic resistance to powdery mildew (Podosphaera aphanis) in strawberry fruit has not been quantified, and thus cannot be exploited in disease management programs. Four commercially-relevant strawberry cultivars were evaluated for ontogenic resistance to powdery mildew. Fruits were inoculated at one of the four growth stages: flowering, green, white and early pink fruit. There was a significant difference between and within cultivars at the bloom and green stage of inoculations (P <0.05) for both disease incidence and severity. On average 16.4, 39.5, 48.7, and 60.3 % of the fruits inoculated at bloom developed powdery mildew in cultivars Elan, Korona, Frida and Inga, respectively. None of the cultivars developed powdery mildew when inoculated at the pink stage. It may be concluded that flowers and green fruits of strawberry were much more susceptible to powdery mildew infection than white and pink fruits. The high susceptibility of cultivars at the flower and early green stages seemed coincident with the succulent nature of the fruits at these stages, making it easy for penetration and establishment of mildew. Control measures targeting at these critical windows of fruit susceptibility are likely to reduce yield loss.

Abstract

European ash (Fraxinus excelsior), also known as common ash, occurs naturally inland in lower areas of southeastern Norway and along the southern coast of the country. It is important both as a forest and ornamental tree. During the last decade, dieback has become a disastrous disease on F. excelsior in many European countries. The anamorphic fungus Chalara fraxinea T. Kowalski (1), described for the first time from dying ash trees in Poland, is now considered the cause of ash dieback (2). In May of 2008, C. fraxinea was isolated from 1.5 m high diseased F. excelsior in a nursery in Østfold County in southeastern Norway. Symptoms included wilting, necrotic lesions around leaf scars and side branches, and discoloration of the wood. From symptomatic branches, small pieces (approximately 1 cm3) were excised in the transition area between healthy and discolored wood. After surface sterilization (10 s in 70% ethanol + 90 s in NaOCl), the pieces were air dried for 1 min in a safety cabinet, cut into smaller pieces, and placed on media. The fungus was isolated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and water agar (WA). On PDA, the cultures were tomentose, light orange, and grew slowly (21 mm mean colony diameter after 2 weeks at room temperature). Typical morphological features of C. fraxinea developed in culture. Brownish phialides (14.8 to 30.0 [19.5] × 2.5 to 5.0 [4.1] μm, n = 50) first appeared in the center of the colonies on the agar plugs that had been transferred. The agar plugs were 21 days old when phialides were observed. Abundant sporulation occurred 3 days later. Conidia (phialospores) extruded apically from the phialides and formed droplets. Conidia measured 2.1 to 4.0 (3.0) × 1.4 to 1.9 (1.7) μm (n = 50). The first-formed conidia from each phialide were different in size and shape from the rest by being longer (6 μm, n = 10) and more narrow in the end that first appeared at the opening of the phialide. Internal transcribed spacer sequencing confirmed that the morphological identification was correct (Accession No. EU848544 in GenBank). A pathogenicity test was carried out in June of 2008 by carefully removing one leaf per plant on 10 to 25 cm high F. excelsior trees (18 trees) and placing agar plugs from a 31-day-old C. fraxinea culture (isolate number 10636) on the leaf scars and covering with Parafilm. After 46 days, isolations were carried out as described above from discolored wood that had developed underneath necrotic lesions in the bark and subsequently caused wilting of leaves. All the inoculated plants showed symptoms, and C. fraxinea was successfully reisolated. No symptoms were seen on uninoculated control plants (eight trees) that had received the same treatment except that sterile PDA agar plugs had been used.