Canadian Forest Service Publications
Evaluation of Fusarium avenaceum and other candidate fungi for biological control of invasive Rubus spp (Abstract) 1996. Oleskevich, C.; Shamoun, S.F.; Punja, Z.K. Page 102 in Healthy Plants, Healthy Planet APS/MSA Joint Annual Meeting, July 27-31, 1996, Indianapolis, Indiana. American Phytopathological Society, Indianapolis, IN.
Year: 1996
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 4597
Language: English
Availability: Not available through the CFS (click for more information).
Abstract
Three fungi, Fusarium avenaceum, Colletotrichum dematium, and a Phomopsis sp., were isolated from diseased Rubus tissues and investigated and individually as potential biocontrol agents for Rubus parviflorus and R. spectabilis. All three fungi caused >50% leaf necrosis when inoculum, produced on agar or liquid media, was applied to detached Rubus leaves. On intact Rubus plants, similar inoculum did not significantly influence the growth of treated plants, regardless of the incorporation of several adjuvants. Predisposing host plants with low doses (2 mM) of glyphosate, followed by F. avenaceum inoculum, resulted in significantly greater % leaf area necrosis on R. parviflorus than either fungus or glyphosate applied alone, at 7 days. When grown on rice and applied as a culture filtrate, F. avenaceum caused significant foliar necrosis on intact Rubus plants. Analysis of culture filtrates revealed that a single toxin, moniliformin, was present at >3000 ppm. In shadehouse trials, the filtrates, combined with an organosilicone surfactant (0.4% Silwet L-77), caused 50-100% and 25-50% foliar necrosis in R. parviflorus and in R. spectabilis, respectively, without a dew period. F. avenaceum may be considered a potential biocontrol agent on Rubus species in forest sites.