Plant Protect. Sci. Vol. 48, 2012, No. 3: 99–104

Reaction of Selected Apple Cultivars to Wilt Pathogen

Verticillium dahliae

Muwaffaq R. KARAJEH 1 and Saed J. OWAIS 2

1Department of Plant Protection and IPM and 2Plant Production Department,

Faculty of Agriculture, Mutah University, Karak, Jordan

Abstract

Karajeh M.R., Owais S.J. (2012): Reaction of selected apple cultivars to wilt pathogen Verticillium dahlia.

Plant Protect Sci., 48: 99–104.

The reaction of five apple cultivars to olive wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae Kleb was evaluated. Five apple cultivars (Royal Gala, Delicious Anabri, Double Red, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith) and one olive cultivar (Nabali Mohassan) were inoculated with V. dahliae and grown under partially controlled greenhouse conditions. Typical symptoms of the disease were developed on the inoculated olive seedlings. However, all tested apple cultivars did not show the typical symptoms of Verticillium wilt except cv. Delicious Anbari, which showed 8.31% disease severity. The average percentage of disease severity was 61.2% in Nabali Mohassan. The pathogen was positively re-isolated from the inoculated seedlings of cvs Nabali Mohassan and Delicious Anbari after 12 months from the inoculation date. Results indicate that an apple plantation to replace dead or severely diseased olive trees infested with Verticillium wilt is an appropriate low-cost and environmentally sound IPM alternative approach to control Verticillium wilt.

Keywords: control; Malus domestica; disease assessment