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Sporulation rate in culture and mycoparasitic activity, but not mycohost specificity, are the key factors for selecting Ampelomyces strains for biocontrol of grapevine powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator)

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Abstract

To develop a new biofungicide product against grapevine powdery mildew, caused by Erysiphe necator, cultural characteristics and mycoparasitic activities of pre-selected strains of Ampelomyces spp. were compared in laboratory tests to the commercial strain AQ10. Then, a 2-year experiment was performed in five vineyards with a selected strain, RS1-a, and the AQ10 strain. This consisted of autumn sprays in vineyards as the goal was to reduce the number of chasmothecia of E. necator, and, thus, the amount of overwintering inocula, instead of targeting the conidial stage of the pathogen during spring and summer. This is a yet little explored strategy to manage E. necator in vineyards. Laboratory tests compared the growth and sporulation of colonies of a total of 33 strains in culture; among these, eight strains with superior characteristics were compared to the commercial product AQ10 Biofungicide® in terms of their intra-hyphal spread, pycnidial production, and reduction of both asexual and sexual reproduction in E. necator colonies. Mycoparasitic activities of the eight strains isolated from six different powdery mildew species, including E. necator, did not depend on their mycohost species of origin. Strain RS1-a, isolated from rose powdery mildew, showed, together with three strains from E. necator, the highest rate of parasitism of E. necator chasmothecia. In field experiments, each strain, AQ10 and RS1-a, applied twice in autumn, significantly delayed and reduced early-season development of grapevine powdery mildew in the next year. Therefore, instead of mycohost specificity of Ampelomyces presumed in some works, but not confirmed by this study, the high sporulation rate in culture and the mycoparasitic patterns became the key factors for proposing strain RS1-a for further development as a biocontrol agent of E. necator.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by an EU grant (FP 7-SME-2007-1-222045-BCA_grape) and by a grant of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA NN 100415). AP acknowledges the support of a János Bolyai Research Scholarships of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). SE Legler carried out this work within the Doctoral School on the Agro-Food System (Agrisystem) of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Horta Srl, Via Egidio Gorra 55, 29122, Piacenza, Italy

    Sara Elisabetta Legler

  2. Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA-ATK), H-1525, Budapest, P.O. Box 102, Hungary

    Alexandra Pintye, Szilvia Gulyás & Levente Kiss

  3. Department of Sustainable Crop Production, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via E. Parmense 84, I-29122, Piacenza, Italy

    Tito Caffi & Vittorio Rossi

  4. Biovéd 2005 Ltd., H-9923 Kemestaródfa, Kemesmáli út 23, Hungary

    Gyula Bohár

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  1. Sara Elisabetta Legler
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  2. Alexandra Pintye
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  7. Levente Kiss
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Correspondence to Levente Kiss.

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Sara Elisabetta Legler and Alexandra Pintye contributed equally to this work and thus share first authorship

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Legler, S.E., Pintye, A., Caffi, T. et al. Sporulation rate in culture and mycoparasitic activity, but not mycohost specificity, are the key factors for selecting Ampelomyces strains for biocontrol of grapevine powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator). Eur J Plant Pathol 144, 723–736 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-015-0834-1

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