Articles
DETACHED STEM ASSAY TO EVALUATE THE SEVERITY OF STEM BLIGHT OF RABBITEYE BLUEBERRY (VACCINIUM ASHEI)
Article number
446_66
Pages
457 – 464
Language
Abstract
The susceptibility of five rabbiteye blueberry cultivars to stem blight (Botryosphaeria dothidea) was compared using field, greenhouse and laboratory inoculations.
In each test, succulent, partially-hardened stems were wounded by scraping away a 2 x 4 mm section of bark 50 mm from the tip of the stem and inoculated by securing against the wound a 2 mm mycelial square cut from a 14-day-old potato dextrose agar culture of the pathogen.
For the detached stem assay, 150 mm shoots were cut from the plants, and all leaves except the terminal three were removed.
The stem was inoculated, inserted into moistened, sterilized sand in a 150 x 25 mm tissue culture tube, and incubated at 20 C. In each test there were significant differences in lesion length among cultivars 20 days after inoculation.
Relative cultivar susceptibility was similar in each assay procedure with ‘Tifblue’ being the most susceptible of the cultivars tested.
The detached stem assay can be used in a breeding program to efficiently identify resistant genotypes.
In each test, succulent, partially-hardened stems were wounded by scraping away a 2 x 4 mm section of bark 50 mm from the tip of the stem and inoculated by securing against the wound a 2 mm mycelial square cut from a 14-day-old potato dextrose agar culture of the pathogen.
For the detached stem assay, 150 mm shoots were cut from the plants, and all leaves except the terminal three were removed.
The stem was inoculated, inserted into moistened, sterilized sand in a 150 x 25 mm tissue culture tube, and incubated at 20 C. In each test there were significant differences in lesion length among cultivars 20 days after inoculation.
Relative cultivar susceptibility was similar in each assay procedure with ‘Tifblue’ being the most susceptible of the cultivars tested.
The detached stem assay can be used in a breeding program to efficiently identify resistant genotypes.
Publication
Authors
B. J. Smith
Keywords
Botryosphaeria dothidea
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