Effect of coinoculation by Verticillium dahliae and Colletotrichum coccodes on disease symptoms and fungal colonization in four potato cultivars

Abstract

Interactions between Verticillium dahliae and Colletotrichum coccodes, major causal agents of potato early dying (PED) syndrome, were studied in four potato cultivars that differ in their susceptibility to these pathogens. Aseptic plantlets of Nicola, Desiree, Alpha and Cara were inoculated with identical concentrations of each pathogen or with a mixture of the pathogens, and grown for 4 weeks in a monitored growth chamber. Coinoculation of Nicola with both pathogens caused more severe foliar disease symptoms and crown rot and greater C. coccodes colonization, than inoculation with each pathogen separately. Significant reductions in weight and height were also observed in plants coinoculated with both pathogens, as compared with plants inoculated with each pathogen separately or noninoculated plants. In Desiree, more roots were covered with C. coccodes sclerotia and disease symptoms were significantly more severe in plants inoculated with both pathogens together. However, plant weight and height were similar to those of plants inoculated with C. coccodes only. In Alpha, disease symptoms and levels of sclerotia in the roots were not affected by simultaneous inoculation with both pathogens. Weight and height of all plants were similar, whether inoculated with each pathogen separately or with both pathogens together. In Cara, plants inoculated with the mixture or either pathogen alone were smaller than the noninoculated control. Disease symptoms and occurrence of sclerotia were similar in plants inoculated with the combination and with a single pathogen. Compared with the effects of inoculation with either pathogen, simultaneous inoculation with both pathogens can, in some cultivars, increase the incidence of PED syndrome and thus severely decrease yields.