The effect of sowing date on infection of sugar beet by Polymyxa betae

The effect of sowing date on the infection of sugar-beet seedlings by Polymyxa betae was examined in a small-plot experiment on a naturally infested site. Seed was sown on seven occasions at weekly intervals from late March to early May. From each sowing, plant samples were taken at approximately weekly intervals over a period of 7 weeks. The extent of root infection by P. betae and the dry weight of plants was determined at each sampling date, and the progress of infection and rate of plant growth were examined against time and thermal time. Infection occurred sooner after sowing and the subsequent rate of fungal development was more rapid in late-sown than in early-sown plants. Early sowing allowed germination and growth of sugar beet at temperatures too low for fungal infection. The growth of late-sown plants appeared to be reduced by P. betae infection. The implications of these findings for the development of rhizomania disease are discussed.     

The effect of fungal infection and nitrogen fertilization on the carbohydrate composition of Rumex obtusifolius leaves

The effect of infection by the rust fungus Uromyces rumicis and fertilization by different concentrations of nitrate or ammonium solutions on the concentrations of alcohol-soluble carbohydrates, fructans and starch in Rumex obtusifolius leaves was investigated. In leaves from healthy plants there was an increase in concentration of alcohol-soluble carbohydrates and fructans as the concentration of nitrate given was decreased, with the exception of nitrogen-stressed plants (those fed less than 10 mM l^-1 nitrate) which had a lower concentration of alcohol-soluble carbohydrates than plants fed 10 mM l^-1 nitrate. There was an increase in fructan and starch concentration in leaves as the concentration of ammonium solution given was decreased. The concentration of alcohol-soluble carbohydrates was reduced in infected leaves and increased in healthy leaves on infected plants, while the fructan concentration increased in infected leaves, compared to healthy leaves. The effects of infection were consistent over the range of nitrogen concentrations used, and thus were additive to the effects of fertilization. These results confirm the known effects of fertilization or fungal infection, singly, and indicate that, when combined, nitrogen deficiency and fungal infection may produce an additive stress on the plant.     

The effect of pollen in the phyllosphere of rye on colonization by saprophytic fungi and on infection by Helminthosporium sativum and other leaf pathogens

It is demonstrated that benomyl, applied as a soil drench, is highly efficient in reducing the quantity of mycelium in muskmelon plants infected byFusarium oxysporum f. sp.melonis. When treated before symptoms appear, plants are generally cured. The blending technique used for assessing fungal spread in the xylem vessels is particularly convenient for studying the action of a systemic fungicide in a plant with vascular wilt.Samenvatting Met behulp van een mixertechniek wordt aangetoond, dat na een begieting van de wortels van jonge meloenen met benomyl (75 mg actieve stof/pot van 450 ml) de infektie doorFusarium oxysporum f. sp.melonis in kunstmatig besmette aarde heel laag blijft. In geïnfekteerde planten veroorzaakt deze behandeling een sterke vermindering van de hoeveelheidFusarium in de stengel. Wanneer de planten behandeld worden juist voor zij de eerste symptomen aantonen, wordt gewoonlijk de ontwikkeling van de parasiet gestopt zodat de planten kunnen genezen. Het produkt blijft tenminste 10 weken actief in de grond.     

The effect of leaf age on infection of Coffea genotypes by Hemileia vastatrix

The age of a leaf at the time of inoculation affected both development of infection structures on the leaf surface and subsequent sporulation. In the case of the susceptible genotypes, cv. Caturra and line NC-169, there was a decrease in the number of appressoria formed, with an increase in age of fully expanded leaves. On the selected resistant line, NP-547, significantly fewer appressoria were formed on the fourth leaf pair than on younger or older leaf pairs. Appressoria were formed significantly more readily over stomata of leaf pairs one, two, three, four and six than over five and seven of the susceptible selections. On the youngest leaf pair a significantly large percentage of appressoria formed away from stomata compared with the percentages obtained for older leaf pairs, where a large proportion of germinated uredospores did not form appressoria. The reaction type of the susceptible genotypes was a greater value on younger than older leaf pairs, and the reverse was true of the resistant genotype. The latent period (inoculation to sporulation) was shorter on NC-169 than on cv. Caturra. No uredospores formed on NP-547. Uredosorus density decreased with an increase in leaf age on the susceptible genotypes.     

Effects of seed treatments and storage on the incidence of Phoma betae and the viability of infected red beet seeds

Red beet seed clusters retained a high level of germination when stored for 13 years at 10°C and 50% RH in a seed store; seed infection by Phoma betae (black leg) declined from 27–5 to 4–5% over the same period. Seed treatment before storage by soaking in thiram or ethyl mercury phosphate significantly improved germination and reduced mean infection by P. betae from 17% to less than 1%.     

The incidence of Polymyxa betae and other fungal root parasites of sugar-beet in Britain

A 2-year survey of soils from a total of 208 fields, using sugar-beet seedlings as bait plants, showed Polymyxa betae to be ubiquitous in the sugar-beet-growing areas of Britain. It was detected in some soils which had not grown a host crop for up to 17 years. However, infection of roots was relatively infrequent in plant samples taken from 134 survey fields in early summer and the density of colonization always low. Three other non-mycelial fungi, Olpidium brassicae, Lagena radicicola and Rhizophydium graminis were also common parasites of sugar-beet roots detected in soil bioassays. Infection of plant samples by O. brassicae was particularly severe.     

Modelling the effect of temperature on the development of Polymyxa betae

Polymyxa betae is the fungal vector of beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), which is the causal agent of the sugar beet disease rhizomania. The within-season dynamics of the fungus are a crucial factor in the occurrence and severity of rhizomania. Late infection of the host by viruliferous fungi enables host resistance to the virus to develop and hence limits crop damage. A previously published mechanistic model for the dynamics of Polymyxa betae is extended in this paper to incorporate the effect of temperature on the germination of resting spores, and on the latent periods between infection and the production of secondary zoospores and new resting spores. It is shown that, for UK temperature conditions, the effect of sowing date on infection is greater than that of year-to-year variations in temperature associated with a single representative sowing date. The variation in inoculum build-up predicted when temperature data from a range of soil types were used in the model agreed with field observations, where higher levels of infection are observed on sandy soils than on black fen peat soils. The difference was most distinct when daily maximum soil temperature values were used to drive the model rather than rolling 24-hour average values.     

烯酰吗啉对葡萄叶际微生物区系影响研究

 为探究施用烯酰吗啉后不同葡萄叶际微生物群落变化,以田间‘红地球’品种葡萄为研究对象,连续施用农药烯酰吗啉,采集不同组别样品,利用 Illumina Hiseq 高通量测序技术分析葡萄叶际真菌、细菌群落结构变化。基于可操作分类单元(operational taxonomic units, OTUs)的物种分类分析,共得到葡萄叶际微生物真菌群落共计6个门,23个纲,60个目,131个科,212个属,296个种;细菌群落共计42个门,91个纲,222个目,398个科,846个属,1 469个种。在云南农业大学砂壤土质、篱架式栽培的‘红地球’葡萄基地中发现:(1)葡萄叶际优势真菌有枝孢菌属(Cladosporium)、白粉菌属(Erysiphe)、unclassified -k_-Fungi属和Symmetrospora属;优势细菌有乳杆菌属(Lactobacillus)、双歧杆菌属(Bifidobacterium)、拟杆菌属(Bacteroides)、肠球菌属(Enterococcus)、毛螺菌属(unclassified-f-Lachnospiraceae)、norank-f-Muribaculaceae属、芽孢杆属(Bacillus)、Blautia属和肠杆菌属(Kosakonia)。(2)经烯酰吗啉处理后,在健康葡萄叶片中其叶际真菌群落丰富度略降低,多样性显著增加,叶际细菌群落丰富度增加,多样性增加,但零星发病叶片中,叶际真菌、细菌群落丰富度和多样性则显著降低。(3)在零星发病葡萄叶片中,相对健康叶片,葡萄叶际真菌群落之间的差异被增大,而葡萄叶际细菌群落的差异被减小。(4)在健康及发病叶片中,相对丰度均上调的真菌为白粉菌属(Erysiphe)、球腔菌属(Mycosphaerella)、线黑粉酵母属(Filobasidium)、黑孢霉属(Nigrospora)、赤霉属(Gibberella)、被孢霉菌(Mortierella)和镰刀菌属(Fusarium),细菌为巨单胞菌属(Megamonas)、链球菌属(Streptococcus)、葡萄球菌属(Staphylococcus)和弯曲杆菌属(Campylobacter);相对丰度均下调的真菌为枝孢属(Cladosporium)、壳针孢属(Septoria)、链格孢属(Alternaria)和担孢酵母属(Erythrobasidium);细菌为短小杆菌属(Kosakonia)鞘脂单胞菌属(Sphingomonas);推断这些菌对烯酰吗啉较为敏感。(5)施用烯酰吗啉农药对葡萄叶际微生物的影响在健康叶片与零星发病叶片中有差异,且有新的优势菌属出现。     

Modelling the effects of temperature and leaf wetness on monocyclic infection in a tropical fungal pathosystem

Modelling the epidemiology of water yam anthracnose (Dioscorea alata) caused by the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is an important research goal, as it will allow the investigation of a wide range of scenarios of new practices to reduce the disease impact before experimentation in the field. Developing such a model requires a prior knowledge of the fungus’s response to the environmental conditions, which will be affected by pest management. In this work, we first measured the response of the fungus to the main physical environmental factors controlling its development, namely temperature (ranging from 18 °C to 36 °C) and wetness duration (from 2 h to 72 h). As response variables, we measured the percentage of formed appressoria (relative to the total number of spores), the length of the latent period (time lag between inoculation and first symptoms observed), and the rate of necrotic lesion extension (percentage of diseased leaf surface at different time steps). These variables allow us to estimate the effects of temperature and wetness duration on the success of infection (appressoria formation) and the subsequent rate of disease development (latent period length and lesion extension rate). The data were fitted to non-linear models chosen for their ability to describe the observed patterns. From our data and model analyses, we were able to estimate parameters such as the optimal and maximal temperatures (25–28 °C and 36 °C, respectively), the required wetness duration to reach 20 % of infection success and the time to reach 5 % disease severity as a function of temperature.     

An inhibitory effect of light on the infection by brown leaf rust of wheat

Samenvatting Licht gedurende 6 tot 24 uur na inoculatie heeft een remmende invloed op het infectieproces met als resultaat dat weinig sporenhoopjes gevormd worden. De lichtremming vindt hoofdzakelijk plaats in een fase voorafgaand aan de penetratie. Bij routinewerk in de kas werden de resultaten belangrijk verbeterd door na inoculatie de planten gedurende 16 tot 24 uur te incuberen in volledige duisternis, uiteraard bij 100% relatieve luchtvochtigheid.     

The effect of benzothiadiazole and fungal extracts of Cercospora beticola and Fusarium graminearum on phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity in cucumber leaves

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - The cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) catalyses the anaplerotic synthesis of oxalacetic acid resulting in the replenishment of citric acid...     

The effect of seven substituted urea herbicides on the soil microflora

Chloroxuron, diuron, fluometuron, metobromuron and monuron added to soil at 500 parts/million a.i. on a dry weight basis caused an initial stimulation of CO₂ production, followed by indications of inhibition. Nitrification was clearly inhibited, particularly by monuron and metobromuron. Metoxuron at 5 and 50 parts/million a.i. had no effect on CO₂ output and nitrification, but at 500 parts/million a.i. both were greatly reduced. Numbers of fungal propagules were temporarily lower at 50 parts/million a.i., and severely curtailed at 500 parts/million a.i. but total counts of bacterial propagules were greatly increased. Linuron had an inhibitory effect on CO₂ evolution at 500 parts/million a.i. but this varied in extent and duration; some reduction was also found at 50 parts/ million a.i. At 500 parts/million a.i. there was no effect on mineralisation of N but in soil supplemented with ammonium sulphate nitrification was reduced. Changes in microbial equilibrium occurred, but were less marked than with metoxuron. Cellulose decomposition was also reduced. Small amounts of 3,4dichloroaniline were found in linuron-treated soils, but microbial activities were not affected when 5 parts/million 3,4-dichloroaniline was added to the soil. However, at 140 parts/million microbial activities were affected adversely, but in a different pattern to that for linuron; nitrification was severely reduced, but numbers of fungal propagules were hardly affected, suggesting that the effects observed in linuron-treated soil were not due to this metabolite.     

The effects of beet yellows virus on the growth and physiology of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)

The effect of beet yellows virus (genus Closterovirus , BYV) on sugar beet growth was studied in a series of field and glasshouse experiments. Infection reduced total plant weight by 20%, primarily through a 25% reduction in storage root growth. Sugar extraction efficiency was depressed by an increase in root impurities. BYV had little effect on above-ground yield or total crop cover but did decrease green cover significantly. Infection did not reduce water extraction depth in field experiments despite decreasing lateral root growth in the glasshouse. The growth reduction in infected plants resulted from both a decrease in net photosynthesis and an increase in the proportion of light intercepted by yellow leaves. Damage to the photosynthetic mechanism at least partly caused the reduction in net photosynthesis.     

Expression of defence‐related genes in stems and leaves of resistant and susceptible field pea (Pisum sativum) during infection by Phoma koolunga

The differential expression of 13 defence‐related genes during Phoma koolunga infection of stems and leaves of susceptible versus resistant field pea (Pisum sativum) was determined using qRT‐PCR. Expression, in terms of relative mRNA level ratios, of genes encoding ferredoxin NADP oxidoreductase, 6a‐hydroxymaackiain methyltransferase (hmm6), chalcone synthase (PSCHS3) and ascorbate peroxidase in leaves and stems differed during 6–72 hours post‐inoculation (hpi) and reflected known host resistance levels in leaves versus stems. In comparison to the susceptible genotype, at 24, 48 and 72 hpi, two genes, hmm6 (122.43‐, 206.99‐ and 32.25‐fold, respectively) and PSCHS3 (175.00‐, 250.13‐ and 216.24‐fold, respectively), were strongly up‐regulated in leaves of the resistant genotype, highlighting that resistance against P. koolunga in field pea is governed by the early synthesis of pisatin. At 24 hpi, leaves infected by P. koolunga showed clear differences in expression of target genes. For example, the gene encoding a precursor of the defensin ‘disease resistance response protein 39’ was substantially down‐regulated in leaves of both the susceptible and the resistant genotypes inoculated with P. koolunga. This contrasts with other studies on another pea black spot pathogen, Didymella pinodes, where this same gene is strongly up‐regulated in leaves of resistant and susceptible genotypes. The current study provides the first understanding of defence‐related genes involved in the resistance against P. koolunga, opening novel avenues to engineer new field pea cultivars with improved leaf and stem black spot disease resistance as the basis for developing more effective and sustainable management strategies.     

Infection by Neopestalotiopsis spp. occurs on unwounded eucalyptus leaves and is favoured by long periods of leaf wetness

Brazil is the leader in the global ranking of forest productivity; however, one of the major challenges to eucalyptus production is the existence of fungal diseases. A severe epidemic caused by pestalotiopsis-like fungi was observed in a forest nursery in Brazil, causing a huge impact on the eucalyptus micropropagation stages. The aims of the present study were to identify the causal agents associated with pestalotiopsis leaf spot and dieback in eucalyptus, assess their pathogenicity to different commercial clones, and evaluate which conditions favour conidial germination and infection by the pathogens. Multilocus phylogenetic analyses using ITS, TEF and TUB identified the isolates as members of Neopestalotiopsis and segregated them into three species. Isolates from all Neopestalotiopsis spp. caused symptoms on unwounded eucalyptus leaves and disease development was strongly dependent on long leaf wetness periods (≥72 h). All four commercial clones tested were susceptible to the pathogen. These results clearly dispute the commonly held assumption that pestalotioid fungi are weak and opportunistic pathogens. This is the first report of different phylogenetic species of Neopestalotiopsis causing dieback, leaf and stem lesions in eucalyptus cuttings and provides a basis for developing novel disease management strategies in forest nurseries.     

Effect of fucoidan from the brown alga Fucus evanescens on the development of infection induced by potato virus X in Datura stramonium L. leaves

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - We studied the influence of fucoidan from the brown alga Fucus evanescens on the development of infection induced by potato virus X (PVX) in Datura...