Susceptibility of Geranium Cultivars to Ralstonia solanacearum

Abstract

Sixty-one cultivars of geraniums, including zonal, regal, ivy, and scented, were tested for susceptibility to three strains of Ralstonia solanacearum: a race 1, biovar 1 (R1B1) strain P597 isolated from tomato in Florida, a R1B1 strain P673 obtained from pothos originated from Costa Rica, and a race 3, biovar 2 (R3B2) strain UW551 isolated from geranium imported from Kenya. These three strains represent populations of R. solanacearum found in the United States or imported with infected plant propagative material. A genomic comparison of the geranium cultivars was also done using amplified fragment length polymorphisms. Both R1B1 strains were more virulent than the R3B2 strain, producing wilt symptoms on most cultivars of zonal, regal, and ivy types. Variation in susceptibility of geranium cultivars to the two R1B1 strains was observed. The R3B2 strain UW551 had a much more restricted host range and was not able to infect most regal geranium cultivars when applied as a soil drench. Many of the scented cultivars were found to be resistant to all three strains of R. solanacearum when tested using the drench inoculation method. However, most scented cultivars were found to be susceptible when plants were wound-inoculated. The greatest variation in type of resistance was observed between the scented geranium cultivars and specific strains of R. solanacearum.