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.