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November 11, 2003
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Source: British Soc. Plant Pathol., New Disease Reports, Vol. 8
[edited]
Deep sunken lesions: an atypical symptom on potato tubers caused
by Colletotrichum coccodes during storage
I. Glais,
Groupement National Interprofessionnel des Semences, 44 rue du
Louvre, 75001 Paris; I. Glais
<iglais@rennes.inra.fr>,
INRA-Centre de Rennes, UMR BiO3P, Domaine de la Motte, BP35327,
F-35653 Le Rheu Cedex, France; and D. Andrivon (as for Glais,
INRA) . Accepted for publication 20 Oct 2003
Colletotrichum coccodes [Cc] causes a potato
tuber-blemishing disease, commonly known as black dot. Typical
black dot symptoms are silvery-to-brown patches on the tuber
surface, bearing black microsclerotia (Dillard, 1992). Severe
infection can cause tuber shrivelling (Hunger & McIntyre, 1979).
Furthermore, Mooi (1959) attributed deep lesions observed on
infected tubers stored at -1 deg C to Cc. Similar symptoms have
also been occasionally observed on tubers kept in commercial
cold stores under irregular temperature regimes (Gaucher, 1998).
To our
knowledge, these symptoms have never been reproduced in control
inoculation experiments, so the implication of Cc as the sole
causal agent remains unclear.
Deep sunken
lesions, similar to those reported by Mooi (1959) and Gaucher
(1998), were obtained on potato tubers from commercial stores,
that had been kept for several weeks at 5-15 deg C, after an
artificial inoculation with Cc. The inoculation was performed by
depositing a 10 microliter drop of a conidial suspension
(calibrated at 3 million/ml) of Cc (isolate 91.22g from the INRA
culture collection) on each end of healthy mini-tubers of potato
cv. Charlotte. Water droplets without inoculum were used on
control tubers.
Inoculated
tubers were incubated in the dark at 5, 10, and 15 deg C and 100
percent relative humidity (rh). After approximately 10 weeks of
incubation, dark brown, irregular shaped lesions with clear
contours were observed. Five months later, symptoms had extended
over the whole tuber surface . Cc was the only pathogen isolated
from these lesions.
The
proportion of tubers showing deep lesions was higher at 10 deg C
(~ 20 percent), than at 5 or 15 deg C (~ 5 percent). These
lesions were never observed on tubers inoculated in the same way
but kept at 20-25 deg C and 100 percent rh. On these tubers only
typical black dot symptoms developed. No lesions or black dot
symptoms were observed on control tubers.
These
observations demonstrate that Cc alone can cause deep tuber
lesions on potato tubers stored for extended periods at 5-15 deg
C.
References
Dillard HR, 1992. Colletotrichum coccodes: the pathogen and its
hosts. In: Bailey J.A., Jeger M.J., eds. Colletotrichum:
Biology, pathology and control. Wallingford, UK: CAB
International, 225-236.
Gaucher D, 1998. La dartrose. In: Maladies de la pomme de terre.
Paris, France: ITCF-ITPT, 33.
Hunger RM, McIntyre GA, 1979. Occurrence, development, and
losses associated with silver scurf and black dot on Colorado
potatoes. American Potato Journal 56, 289-306.
Mooi JC, 1959. A skin necrosis occurring on potato tubers
affected by black dot (C. coccodes) after exposure to low
temperatures. European Potato Journal 2, 58-68.
[Cc is a
relatively weak pathogen of potato. The pathogen is soil-borne,
residing in tubers and soil. Disease management is difficult
because there are few available chemical fungicides and little
or no resistance in current potato cultivars. Cultural
procedures may offer some degree of disease control. -Mod.DH]
An additional reference: <http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extnews/newsrelease/2003/041003/08ndsupl.htm> |