Production, survival and evaluation of solid-substrate inocula ofConiothyrium minitans againstSclerotinia sclerotiorum

Abstract

Coniothyrium minitans grew on all ten solid-substrates (barley, barley-rye-sunflower, bran-vermiculite, bran-sand, maizemed-perlite, millet, oats, peat-bran, rice and wheat) tested, producing high numbers of germinable pycnidiospores (1.9–9.3×10⁸ g⁻¹ air dry inocula). All solid substrate inocula survived better in the laboratory at 5 and 15 °C than at 30 °C for at least 64 weeks.

In pot bioassays carried out in the glasshouse and field, soil incorporations of each inoculum almost completely inhibited carpogenic germination ofS. sclerotiorum. In the field bioassay, no sclerotia were recovered after 38 weeks fromC. minitans-treated pots compared to 56% from control pots. In the glasshouse bioassay, 9–30% of sclerotia were recovered after 20 weeks fromC. minitans-treated pots, but 88–100% of these were infected by the antagonist. The antagonist also spread to infect sclerotia in control pots.

In larger scale glasshouse trials, single preplanting soil-incorporations of five inocula (barley-ryesunflower, maizemeal-perlite, peat-bran, rice and wheat) controlled Sclerotinia disease in a sequence of lettuce crops, with only small differences between the types of inocula tested. At harvest,C. minitans reduced sclerotial populations on the soil surface and over 74% of sclerotia recovered fromC. minitans-treated plots were infected by the antagonist.C. minitans survived in soil in all solid-substrate inocula-treated plots for at least 39 weeks at levels of 10⁴–10⁵ colony forming units cm⁻³ soil and spread to infect over 36% of sclerotia recovered from control plots.