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Heat treatment of plant propagation material for the control of fire blight
Author(s) -
KECK M.,
CHARTIER R,
ZISLAVSKY W.,
LECOMTE P.,
PAULIN J. P.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.928
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-3059
pISSN - 0032-0862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3059.1995.tb02724.x
Subject(s) - fire blight , erwinia , pear , shoot , horticulture , biology , incubation , polyethylene , botany , bacteria , materials science , composite material , biochemistry , genetics
The thermal sensitivity of Erwinia amylovora was determined at 45° C and 50°C. In vitro assays with eight differetit strains showed that thermal death times did not exceed 70min at 45° C and 50min at 50° C (95% confidence interval). Heat treatments of naturally infected apple and pear shoots were performed using a moist and a dry heat procedure. When shoots were wrapped in wet cotton cloths (wet heat) and maintained in an incubator, no bacterial growth could be detected after an incubation of 5 h at 45° C. When shoots were sealed in polyethylene bags and immersed in water (dry heat), no Erwinia amytovora could be isolated after an immersion of 3 h at 45° C. Incubation at 50°C for 1 –2h in either condition did not eradicate the pathogen entirely. The failure rate of grafts using budwoods treated at the effective time‐temperature combinations did not exceed 25%. The present investigations showed that the use of thermotherapy techniques for controlling Erwinia amylovora in propagation material of apple and pear might be possible.