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Efficacy of alternatives to antibiotic chemicals for the control of fire blight of pears
Author(s) -
TSIANTOS J,
PSALLIDAS P,
CHATZAKI A
Publication year - 2003
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.1744-7348.2003.tb00300.x
Subject(s) - erwinia , biology , pear , liter , inoculation , fire blight , pyrus communis , citric acid , horticulture , botany , bacteria , food science , genetics , endocrinology
Summary The efficacy of various chemicals as alternatives to antibiotics for the control of fireblight ( Erwinia amylovora) on pear trees was tested. The chemicals were applied in two ways. In 1999 and 2000, preselected pear twigs (80–90% bloom stage) were sprayed once either preventively 1 day before inoculation or curatively one or three days after artificial inoculation with pathogen concentrations of 10 5 and 10 7 cfu ml −1 . In 2000 and 2001, whole trees were sprayed 2 and 4 days before artificial inoculation of the flowers. From the incidence of diseased flowers it appeared that Bion (50% benzothiadiazole) at 0.2 g litre −1 H 2 O and Aliette (80% fosetyl‐Al) at 2.5 g litre −1 H 2 O showed considerable preventive action by eliciting systemic acquired resistance mostly when they were applied in the whole trees. However the best control was achieved with the antibiotic Agrept (20% streptomycin) at 0.5 g litre −1 H 2 O. This showed both preventive and curative action. Kocide (77% copper hydroxide) at 0.9 g litre −1 H 2 O, Dentamet (citric acid in chelate) at 1.5 ml litre −1 H 2 O, Bactosan (an extract from the plant Pongamia pinnatd) at 3.0 g litre −1 H 2 O and Bion at 0.1 g litre −1 H 2 O, showed preventive action, but only when the inoculum concentration was low.