Marginal Blight of Cucumber Caused by a Strain of Pseudomonas marginalis (Brown) Stevens

Abstract

A bacterial disease was found on matured lower leaves of cucumber grown under vinyl house conditions in winter of 1974. The disease rarely occurred on inmature leaves soon after unfolding. The disease usually started from leaf edges near hydathodes and quickly enlarged to form V-shaped lesions frequently surrounded by chlorotic areas. These lesions finally coalesced to form the severe blight along the whole margin of the leaf. From these symptoms, “marginal blight of cucumber” was proposed as the disease name. The cultural and biochemical characters of the pathogen were compared with those of Pseudomonas lachrymans, the pathogen of angular leaf spot of cucumber. These two bacteria differed in the important characteristics such as production of fluorecin, degree of gelatin liquefaction, levan formation, margarine hydrolysis, arginine dihydrolase reaction, potato rot, and utilization of sucrose, sorbitol and tartarate. The marginal blight pathogen was rather close to soft-rotting pseudomonads in bacteriological properties. Although the similarity was not complete, therefore, we are inclined to identify the present bacterium as a strain of Pseudomonas marginalis (Brown) Stevens based on the detailed survey of pathological, cultural and physiological characteristics. The isolates of P. lachrymans used in the study showed also some conflicts in physiological properties with the description of the type culture suggesting the presence of strains in this bacterium.