Identification of Pseudomonas Viridiflava (Burkholder) Dowson, as One of the Causers of Tomato Pith Necrosis in the Region of Strumica

The occurrence of tomato pith necrosis in the greenhouses of the Strumicaregion was investigated in the last four years, starting from 2005. Severalvarieties of bacteria were isolated from symptomatic plants: Pseudomonasmediterranea (Mitrev S. et al., in press), Pantoea agglomerans (Mitrev S. et al.,2007), Pseudomonas spp. (Mitrev S. et al., 2007), Clavibacter michiganensesubsp. michiganenese (Mitrev S. et al., 2005). In 2008, the plant pathogenicbacteria Pseudomonas viridilava (Burkholder) Dowson was isolated fromtomato plants showing symptoms of pith necrosis and grown in plasticgreenhouses in the region of Strumica. Ten isolates were determined on thebasis of their phenotypic and BIOLOG characteristics. All isolates were gramnegative and formed yellow colonies on YDCA medium. LOPAT tests showedthat they were levan and oxidase negative, were arginine negative and theyinduced potato soft rot and a hypersensitive reaction on tobacco leaves. TheBIOLOG test was also positive for Pseudomonas viridifl ava, with coeffi cientof similarity from 81% - 100%, index of similarity from 0,546 to 0,839, andindex of distance from 2.13 to 5,04