Abstract
BackgroundBacterial canker and subsequent gummosis are caused by multiple pathogens and lead to significant yield and productivity losses in sweet cherry cultivation in Turkey. This study identified that Pseudomonas syringae pathovars were responsible for bacterial canker on sweet cherry orchards by using classical and molecular methods and evaluated the biocontrol effects of bacteriophages against P. syringae pv. syringae.ResultsPathogenic bacteria were isolated from samples taken from plants showing symptoms of bacterial canker in cherry orchards located in İzmir and Manisa provinces. Specific pathogens were identified using pathogenicity, phenotypic tests, and simplex PCR. Bacteriophages effective against P. syringae strains were isolated from soil contaminated with pathogens identified in the diseased orchards using an optimized isolation protocol. The biocontrol activity of bacteriophage isolates against P. syringae pv. syringae was tested in vitro and in vivo. The results of pathogenicity tests on immature sweet cherry fruits and micropropagated cherry plantlets revealed 10 pathogenic bacteria isolates from 44 plant samples taken from sweet cherry orchards showing symptoms of bacterial canker.ConclusionsTen isolates were identified as Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. Nine different pure bacteriophage isolates were effective. The results indicated that bacteriophage isolates may demonstrate variable reactivity against P. syringae pathovars.
Highlights
Bacterial canker and subsequent gummosis are caused by multiple pathogens and lead to significant yield and productivity losses in sweet cherry cultivation in Turkey
Collection of diseased plant samples Surveys were conducted during the spring and autumn of 2014 and 2015 in sweet cherry orchards located at 17 different sites in İzmir and Manisa provinces
From the rest of the samples, 38 candidate bacteria potentially pathogenic on sweet cherry were isolated with characteristic colony morphology
Summary
Bacterial canker and subsequent gummosis are caused by multiple pathogens and lead to significant yield and productivity losses in sweet cherry cultivation in Turkey. This study identified that Pseudomonas syringae pathovars were responsible for bacterial canker on sweet cherry orchards by using classical and molecular methods and evaluated the biocontrol effects of bacteriophages against P. syringae pv. The causal agents may be harbored on hosts other than cherries, cause systemic infections without symptoms, and develop as epiphytes on non-host plants, making control of the disease challenging (Ertimurtas 2012). As it is challenging to definitively diagnose the disease agents that cause bacterial canker in cherry, an integrated approach should be used to identify P. syringae isolates by their phenotypic and genomic heterogeneity
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