The observed effects of leaf wetness and temperature on infection by P. melanocephala could help explain the initiation, rate of increase and decline of brown

rust epidemics in the field. “
“Detached Vitis vinifera (cv Chardonnay) inflorescences were inoculated with spore suspensions of either Colletotrichum acutatum or Greeneria uvicola at 25°C, and a combination of light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and plating out of inoculated flowers on to dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol agar was used to investigate the time frame for infection. Colletotrichum Gefitinib acutatum infection commenced within 2 h of inoculation, while infection by G. uvicola commenced between 12 and 18 h postinoculation. All parts of the flowers were infected by

both fungi. “
“Quarantined phytopathogens such as Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis can be introduced into tomato transplant houses and fields on infested seed and thereby cause significant economic losses. Hence, specific and sensitive seed health assays are required to exclude these organisms. Currently, separate assays must be conducted on seed samples for each pathogen, making the process time-consuming and expensive. One approach to improve the efficiency of seed health testing is multiplex real-time PCR; however, PCR can be inhibited by compounds co-extracted from seed tissues with nucleic acids. To address this concern, we explored the use of magnetic capture hybridization (MCH) to PD98059 cell line concentrate and purify target nucleic acids prior to real-time PCR. The combination of MCH with multiplex real-time PCR resulted in a 102–103-fold increase in detection sensitivity for both pathogens compared to DNA extraction and direct selleck screening library multiplex real-time PCR. The detection threshold observed for the MCH multiplex real-time PCR assay was a combination of 105C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis CFU/ml plus a 10−4-fold dilution of total RNA extracted from PepMV-infected tomato leaf tissue. These observations provide proof for the concept that MCH can facilitate the simultaneous detection of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis and

PepMV by multiplex real-time PCR. “
“This study examined the effect of ASD strain (Aspergillus flavipes), isolated from continuous cropping soil for pepper and named by the sampling position, on soil microflora and soil enzymes in rooting zone soil of healthy and diseased (Phytophthora capsici) pepper plants. Results showed that the ASD strain could significantly reduce the number of bacteria and actinomycetes, with a significant increase in fungi in the rhizosphere soil of both healthy and diseased plants. With increasing colonization time of the ASD strain, the number of bacteria and actinomycetes decreased initially and then increased gradually, while the number of fungi was first increased significantly and later decreased slowly.