Use of advisory systems and plastic covering in the control of downy mildew on vines of São Paulo, Brazil.

The Northwest region of the State of São Paulo is one of the main producers of table grapes in Brazil. However, the climate of this region is highly favorable for fungal diseases during the growing season. The use of disease advisory systems and plastic covers are promising alternatives for rationalize the use of fungicides for disease control. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of advisory systems and plastic covering in the control of downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) on vineyards of the Northwest region of State of São Paulo, Brazil. The experiments were carried out at the EMBRAPA - Tropical Viticulture Experimental Station, located in Jales, SP, Brazil. Three rows of 120 m of the seedless grape cultivar ?BRS Morena? (Vitis vinifera), spaced with 3.0 m between plants were conducted during 2012 and 2013 growing seasons. Half of the vineyard was covered with braided polypropylene plastic film installed over a metallic arc-shaped structure and the other half with black screen, with 18% of shading. The experimental design was randomized blocks composed of five treatments, with six repetitions per covered environment. The treatments were defined by the different grapevine downy mildew management : (CO) Control (no sprays against downy mildew); (CA) Conventional control (calendar); (BA) Advisory system 'Rule 3-10'; (MA25) Advisory system with low-infection efficiency - i0 > 25%; and (MA75) Advisory system with high infection efficiency ? i0 > 75%. According to the results, the plastic cover alone was not effective in controlling downy mildew. Under plastic cover, all advisory systems tested were as effective as the control provided by treatment calendar (CA), however, with 75% less fungicide application (MA75) than CA.Resumo expandido

Doenças pós-colheita em laranja 'Valência' e caracterização da população fúngica em pomares orgânicos e convencionais.

A agricultura orgânica busca atender a demanda crescente por alimentos saudáveis, produzidos sem agroquímicos. Este trabalho objetivou: a) caracterizar as doenças pós-colheita em laranjas 'Valência' provenientes de cultivo orgânico e convencional; b) caracterizar a micoflora ambiental nos pomares citrícolas e c) detectar a presença de isolados de Penicillium spp. resistentes aos fungicidas tiabendazol e imazalil nos pomares. Frutos coletados nos pomares e no mercado atacadista de São Paulo (CEAGESP) foram armazenados durante 14 dias a 25ºC e 85% de UR. A incidência de doenças foi avaliada visualmente a cada dois-três dias. A micoflora ambiental foi amostrada com placas de Petri, contendo meio batata-dextrose-ágar acrescido ou não dos fungicidas. As maiores incidências de doenças foram observadas nas laranjas orgânicas em relação as do sistema convencional. A principal doença detectada foi a podridão peduncular de lasiodiplodia. A micoflora total do ambiente, assim como os principais gêneros fúngicos não diferiram significativamente entre os pomares amostrados. Cladosporium foi o gênero fúngico mais abundante nos pomares. A frequência de isolados de P. digitatum resistentes a tiabendazol foi semelhante nos pomares, com média de 47,3% dos isolados. A frequência de isolados de P. digitatum resistentes a imazalil foi baixa (2,6%), não sendo constatados isolados resistentes a tiabendazol + imazalil

Resposta da videira BRS morena sob cobertura plástica a diferentes sistemas de alerta fitossanitário.

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito do uso de diferentes sistemas de alerta fitossanitário para o controle do míldio na videira cv BRS Morena cultivada sob cobertura plástica impermeável.Resumo expandido

Relative importance of inoculum sources of Guignardia citricarpa on the citrus black spot epidemic in Brazil.

Guignardia citricarpa, the causal agent of citrus black spot (CBS), forms ascospores and conidia in citrus leaf litter and only conidia on fruit and twigs. The objective of this work was to determine the relative importance of inoculum sources of ascospores and conidia in the progress of CBS under natural conditions in Brazil. A first experiment was conducted in an orchard subdivided into two areas. In one area, fallen leaves were removed and in the other area fallen leaves were maintained. In each area, two treatments were established: 1) CBS symptomatic mature fruit remained on the trees after the new fruit set, and 2) CBS symptomatic mature fruit were harvested before the new fruit set. A second experiment was carried out in a CBS-free experimental orchard where detached symptomatic fruit and leaf litter on the orchard floor and detached symptomatic fruit and dead twigs on the tree canopy were distributed to investigate the spread of disease. In the first experiment disease incidence was similar for all treatments in all years. However, in 2003, in the area without leaf litter (absence of the ascospores source), disease intensity and the rate of progress of disease incidence were higher when there was overlap of mature and young fruit. In the second experiment, only detached symptomatic fruit and dead twigs on the tree canopy were able to spread CBS in two years of the experiment. The distance of disease spread was less than 80 cm from these inoculum sources. The removal of fallen leaves was not sufficient to completely suppress the disease because of the presence of conidia in fruit and dead twigs. Therefore the reduction of conidia sources should be considered in CBS management in Brazil

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Guignardia citricarpa: an efficient tool to gene transfer and random mutagenesis.

Guignardia citricarpa is the causal agent of Citrus Black Spot (CBS), an important disease in Citriculture. Due to the expressive value of this activity worldwide, especially in Brazil, understanding more about the functioning of this fungus is of utmost relevance, making possible the elucidation of its infection mechanisms, and providing tools to control CBS. This work describes for the first time an efficient and successful methodology for genetic transformation of G. citricarpa mycelia, which generated transformants expressing the gene encoding for the gfp (green fluorescent protein) and also their interaction with citrus plant. Mycelia of G. citricarpa were transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which carried the plasmid pFAT-gfp, contains the genes for hygromycin resistance (hph) as well as gfp. The optimization of the agrotransformation protocol was performed testing different conditions (type of membrane; inductor agent concentration [acetosyringonee - AS] and cocultivation time). Results demonstrated that the best condition occurred with the utilization of cellulose?s ester membrane; 200µM of AS and 96 h as cocultivation time. High mitotic stability (82 %) was displayed by transformants using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique to confirm the hph gene insertion. In addition, the presence of gfp was observed inside mycelia by epifluorescence optical microscopy. This technique easy visualization of the behaviour of the pathogen interacting with the plant for the first time, allowing future studies on the pathogenesis of this fungus. The establishment of a transformation method for G. citricarpa opens a range of possibilities and facilitates the study of insertional mutagenesis and genetic knockouts, in order to identify the most important genes involved in the pathogenesis mechanisms and plant-pathogen interaction