ETHYLENE OXIDE FUMIGATION TRIALS WITH CULTURES OF ERWINIA AMYLOVORA AND BUDWOOD OF APPLES

To remove any possible contamination of plant material with Erwinia amylovora, especially in valuable propagation material, a routine treatment, e.g. with a fumigant, may be one way to guarantee disease free material.
In order to find such a treatment, a number of orientating fumigations have been carried out using a mixture of ethylene oxide and freon 12, resp. 12% and 88% each, called Sterigas.

Gaseous sterilization by means of ethylene oxide is being increasingly used in hospitals due to its relatively favourable properties.
It has a strong fungicidal and bacterial effect, even on bacterial spores, because of its alkylating effect on essential chemical groups within the cell (Kayser 1971, figure 1).

Symposium on Fire Blight

H.E. Uilenreef

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1978.86.11