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

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

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