ISSN:
1365-3059
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
The range of symptoms caused by the narcissus smoulder pathogen Botrytis narcissicola is described. Healthy bulbs inoculated with B. narcissicola, or grown in soil containing sclerotia, showed lesions in the shoot on emergence (primary symptoms). In commercial fields, B. narcissicola was commonly isolated from the bulb neck and leaf sheath of plants with primary symptoms. Plants infected by B. narcissicola one season, either with natural primary symptoms or following artificial inoculation, frequently emerged with smoulder symptoms the following season. About 40% of B. narcissicola sclerotia were viable after burial in soil for 9 months. It is suggested that infected bulbs and sclerotia present in soil are the major sources of smoulder outbreaks. Secondary infection by conidia was enhanced by damaging leaves, and open stalk ends left after flower picking were found to provide an important site for infection development. B. narcissicola was isolated from bulb necks when plants with symptoms of secondary infection had died down, A disease cycle is postulated and suggestions for controlling smoulder are discussed with reference to the cycle.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3059.1982.tb02818.x
