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A comparison of inoculation methods for determining potato cultivar reaction to black leg
Author(s) -
HOSSAIN M.,
LOGAN C.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.1983.tb02741.x
Subject(s) - cultivar , biology , inoculation , erwinia , yield (engineering) , horticulture , black spot , agronomy , bacteria , genetics , materials science , metallurgy
SUMMARY Two methods of inoculating tubers, one by dipping them in an aqueous suspension of Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica , the other by inserting the end of a wooden toothpick charged with undiluted bacteria into the rose‐end near a sprout, were compared over two years for their ability to produce black leg and for their effect on plant growth and yield on a number of cultivars chosen because of expected differences in susceptibility. Although both methods produced a similar rank order for cultivar reaction, the more consistent results were obtained using the toothpick method, clear differences in black leg incidence and yield being evident between the susceptible cultivars Ulster Sceptre and Maris Bard and the more resistant Pentland cultivars. As some cultivars appear more tolerant to black leg than others, yield may be as important a criterion as disease incidence when assessing overall cultivar performance. The inoculation of the base and middle of stems and the infiltration of the bacterium into tubers were also investigated as alternative methods for assessing cultivar susceptibility.