Occurrence of Crown Gall and Growth Responses of Korean Raspberry Grown in Container Supplied with Nutrient Solution

Abstract

Although Korean raspberry (Rubus crataegifolius) cultivation has increased with the recent trend of convenience foods, the growers suffer from renovating the orchards due to the outbreak of Agrobacterium tumefaciens which severely occurs in the raspberries every 3 to 4 years. This study was conducted to determine the inhibitory effect of container cultivation on the occurring of A. tumefaciens in the Korean raspberry and to suggest EC range and volume of the nutrient solution suitable to the raspberry. Two-year-old raspberries were supplied with a nutrient solution (NO3-N 4.6, NH4-N 3.4, PO4-P 3.3, K 3, Ca 4.6, Mg 2.2 me L-1) from bud burst to harvest in 50-L containers (non-woven fabric) containing peatmoss (44 L) and perlite (6 L) within non-heating plastic houses in Gimhae and Jinju, Gyeongnam-province. When Agrobacterium sp. was inoculated to the plants in Gimhae, the container cultivation exhibited significantly lower tumor occurrence of 3.3%, in contrast to 54.5% of the conventional soil cultivation. On the other hands, the plants in Jinju were examined with 4 levels of EC (0.8, 1.0, 1.2, and 1.5 dS m-1) combined with 4 volumes of nutrient solution (4, 6, 8, and 12 L plant-1 per week). Shoot growth tended to increase with raising EC, but numbers of shoots and suckers rather decreased at EC 1.5. The EC 1.0 with volume of 12 L resulted in the greatest bush growth including number of shoots and the pruned weight. The highest berry weight and yield were found in EC range of 1.0 to 1.2 at the rate of 12 L. The results indicated that container cultivation supplied with the nutrient solution could decrease occurrence of A. tumefaciens and the appropriate supply of the nutrient solution increases growth of the Korean raspberry.Bush growth as affected by different ECs and volumes of nutrient solution supplied to container-grown Korean raspberry plants. Nutrient solution Floricane diameter (mm) Shoot diameter (mm) Avg. shoot length (cm) Avg. internode (cm) Total shoots (No. plant-1) Suckers (No. plant-1) Pruned shoots (g plant-1) EC (dS m-1) Volume (L plant-1) 0.8 4 8.6 2.2 29.0 3.5 6.2 5.3 225 6 9.0 2.4 26.8 3.9 6.0 1.3 475 8 9.0 2.6 32.7 4.1 8.0 1.7 500 12 8.4 2.8 56.3 3.8 9.0 2.7 650 1.0 4 9.5 2.6 36.9 4.1 5.5 3.3 250 6 10.0 2.4 31.7 4.1 5.2 2.0 525 8 10.6 2.6 36.1 4.2 7.7 5.3 550 12 9.9 2.9 70.9 4.3 12.7 6.3 725 1.2 4 10.5 2.6 41.9 4.3 11.2 1.0 400 6 10.8 2.6 38.7 4.3 13.0 1.7 600 8 11.3 2.7 27.8 4.4 12.5 3.3 625 12 10.2 2.9 58.1 5.1 14.0 5.0 825 1.5 4 11.6 2.8 35.8 4.3 8.5 3.7 525 6 11.4 2.8 24.0 4.4 14.2 3.7 500 8 12.2 3.1 35.5 4.8 8.7 4.3 575 12 11.7 3.2 56.2 5.1 8.7 1.0 675 Significance EC (A) ns * ns ** * ns ** Volume (B) *** ** *** *** ** ns *** A × B ns ns ns ns ns ns ns ns, *, **, ***: nonsignificant or significant at p = 0.05, 0.01, and 0.001, respectively.