Field Application of Non-Pathogenic Verticillium dahliae Genotypes for Regulation of Wilt in Strawberry Plants

Copyright © 2013 Katharina Diehl et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Verticillium dahliae induced wilt disease in strawberry can cause severe yield losses and thus lead to inevitable negative economic impacts. Inoculation of plants with non-pathogenic strains of Verticillium was conducted as a biologic control agent (BCA) according to the concept that preoccupation of the ecologic niche rendered strawberry plants immune to infection with soil-borne pathogenic Verticillium. This concept was tested for economic viability in a field trial under commercial conditions. Results were reported for 2 years of field trials under practice conditions in two locations in Brandenburg, Germany. Inoculation was shown to have a positive effect of 20 % of plants, while 30 % of plants remain unaffected and of equally high vitality. However, 50 %- 60 % of plants were impacted negatively, showing severe wilt symptoms up to total loss. The characteristic progression of wilt symptoms suggested an infestation caused by Phy-tophtora sp. and other pathogens. Further results showed that the main factor of the side effects was caused by different qualities of plant material in interaction to the inoculation with the BCA and only to a minor extent depended on pre-infestation of soils. We conclude that specific conditions, such as certified plant material or soil analysis for other pathogens besides Verticillium, avoided these side-effects relevant for commercial farming