Sclerotinia rot losses in processing tomatoes grown under centre pivot irrigation in central Brazil

Sclerotinia rot caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is one of the most important diseases of processing tomatoes in Central Brazil. Yield losses in tomato cultivars (cv.) IPA-5 were assessed in mature plants from 1995 to 1997, and related to different disease intensities, in a naturally infested area irrigated by centre pivot. Over the 3 years, there were no differences (Tukey at 5%) in fruit numbers between plants without symptoms (NS) and with intermediate symptoms (IS), which yielded higher numbers than plants with severe symptoms (SS). The greatest reduction in fruit number was 56.8% in 1997. Significant differences were observed in fruit weight and size among NS, IS and SS plants in 1995 and 1997. In 1996, NS and IS plants were similar, but different from SS, which yielded significantly less. Weight and size reductions in SS plants reached 84.3% and 62.0%, respectively, in 1997. In 1996 and 1997, yield losses related to time of symptom appearance and physiological age were also assessed. Significant correlations were found ( P  < 0.01), with nearly total losses observed when plants were infected from early to mid bloom, as opposed to plants infected near harvest, which had lower disease incidence and produced economically acceptable yields. Quadratic and exponential models best fitted the relationship between yield and time of symptom appearance, and yield vs physiological age could be explained by logistic and Gompertz functions.