Effectiveness and efficacy of superficial disinfectants to prevent mechanical transmission of Cryphonectria parasitica from chestnut scion woods

• Published in: European journal of plant pathology Vol. 159; no. 1; pp. 131 - 138
• Main Authors: Akilli Şimşek, Seçil, Akyüz, Burak, Katircioğlu, Yakup Zekai, Serdar, Ümit, Maden, Salih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Antiseptics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Blight; Buds; Chestnut; Conidia; Copper; Copper sulfate; Cryphonectria parasitica; Disinfectants; Disinfection & disinfectants; Distilled water; Ecology; Ethanol; Flora; Fungal flora; Fungi; Hardwoods; Hydrogen peroxide; In vivo methods and tests; Life Sciences; Mechanical transmissions; Plant Pathology; Plant Sciences; Pollution control; Scions; Sodium hypochlorite; Sulfates; Viability; Scion wood; Sodium hypochlorite
• ISSN: 0929-1873; 1573-8469
• DOI: 10.1007/s10658-020-02148-w

Chestnut blight caused by
Cryphonectria parasitica
is a severe disease worldwide affecting chestnut trees. One pathway for its long-range transmission is grafting by using non-symptomatic scions. The effects of five disinfectants, 80% ethanol, 2.5% NaOCl, 5% H
2
O
2
, 2% copper sulphate and Lysol® (Brand III), were evaulated on artificially inoculated scions of 15–20 cm with a spore suspension (1 × 10
6
conidia/ml) of
C. parasitica.
Effects of these disinfectants on natural fungal flora and the viability of the scion woods were also investigated
in vitro
and
in vivo
conditions. Effectiveness of the disinfectants was evaluated by plating 10 buds taken from five random scions on PDA and counting the growing fungal colonies after 7 days of incubation at 22 °C, with a 12-h lighting period. A total of 40 buds, 10 from each repetition, were cultured for each treatment. The growth of
C. parasitica
and other fungi were investigated under a stereomicroscope. No growth of
C. parasitica
was observed on the treated scions while it grew on all of the contaminated control buds (100%). The growth of other fungi was the lowest for the Lysol® treated scions. The effect of the disinfectant treatment on the viability of the scion woods were tested by using 45 scion woods for each treatment and the maximum viability ratio was obtained in distilled water, followed by NaOCl, copper sulphate, ethanol, H
2
O
2
and Lysol® treatment.