Response of Olive Cultivars to Stem Puncture Inoculation with a Defoliating Pathotype of Verticillium dahliae

Abstract

The resistance of 26 olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars to the defoliating pathotype of Verticillium dahliae Kleb. was evaluated in experiments under controlled conditions by stem puncture inoculation. The area under disease progress curve with reference to the maximum value potentially reached over the assessment period (AUDPCP), calculated from the symptom severity values (0–4 rating scale), was the main parameter for assessing resistance, and the percentage of dead plants (PDP), the final mean symptom severity (FMS), and the disease recovery were used as additional parameters. Five cultivars were catalogued as extremely susceptible showing values of AUDPCP, PDP, and FMS higher than 70%, 50%, and 3.0, respectively. Six other cultivars exhibited AUDPCP values ranging from 50% to 70% and FMS higher than 3.0 and were classified as susceptible. A group of 11 cultivars, including ‘Koroneiki’, was moderately susceptible with AUDPCP ranging from 31% to 50%. Finally, ‘Frantoio’, ‘Grosal de Albocafer’, ‘Kato Drys’, and ‘Manzanilla Picúa’ showed maximum AUDPCP values of 22%, no dead plants, and slight symptom severity, being classified as resistant. Stem puncture inoculation was an effective tool for identifying resistance in olive cultivars, but a reduction or a delay in the disease symptom expression of plants was observed regarding the symptom progress observed in plants root dip-inoculated in previous works of resistance assessment. These differences were more pronounced in susceptible than in resistant cultivars.