M. Vestberg et al., EFFECT OF ARBUSCULAR MYCORRHIZAS ON CROWN ROT (PHYTOPHTHORA-CACTORUM)IN MICROPROPAGATED STRAWBERRY PLANTS, Agricultural science in Finland, 3(3), 1994, pp. 289-295
Preliminary studies were conducted on the effect of arbuscular mycorrh
izal fungi (AMF) against strawberry crown rot caused by Phytophthora c
actorum (Leb. & Cohn) Schroet. A micropropagated strawberry cultivar s
usceptible to the disease, 'Jonsok', was either inoculated with the Fi
nnish AMF strains Glomus mosseae (Nicol. & Gerd.) Gerdemann & Trappe V
57, G. hoi Berch & Trappe V98 and G. fistulosum Skou & Jakobsen V128,
or it was left uninoculated. AMF inoculation at the beginning of the w
eaning stage, five weeks before the establishment of the pot or field
experiment, did not decrease crown rot severity in either of the exper
iments. In the pot experiment, on the contrary, AMF lowered the plant
health index when P. cactorum was added to the substrate in the form o
f infected plant residues. Results are discussed in relation to soil-b
orne vs. foliar disease, phosphorus concentration of the growth substr
ate and influence of weather conditions.