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Plant viruses in irrigation water: reduced dispersal of viruses using sensor-based disinfection

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Abstract

The increasing use of recirculating nutrient solutions and drainage water for irrigation purposes requires effective sanitation methods to minimise the dispersal of plant pathogens. Among these, plant viruses are of particular interest because they cannot be cured. A new disinfection system was tested in regard to its ability to inactivate plant viruses in nutrient solution in greenhouses. Potassium hypochlorite produced onsite by an electrolytic disinfector and injected once weekly into the nutrient solution by a sensor, prevented the dispersal of Pepino mosaic virus in the tomato crop. The management program assures that virus particles released from infected plants do not accumulate, forming an infectious virus reservoir which represents an inoculum potential in the hydroponic system. Both tested applications at 0.2 or 0.5 mg free chlorine/l nutrient solution for 60 or 30 min ensured virus inactivation and did not cause phytotoxicity. The yield of tomato plants grown in KCIO-treated nutrient solution was even significantly higher than that of control plants. PepMV-infected source plants solely bore unmarketable tomatoes showing discoloration. By inhibiting the dispersal of PepMV and the infection of test plants, the amount of unmarketable tomato fruits was reduced rigorously in treated variants.

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Acknowledgments

The investigation was financially supported on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, Grant No. 28-1-55.026-11 “Development of a recirculating irrigation system with reduced phytosanitary risk in greenhouses”). We thank Mr. Yuan Gao (Newtec Umwelttechnik GmbH, Berlin, Germany) for providing the electrolytic disinfector.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Phytomedicine, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Lentzeallee 55, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Martina Bandte, Marlon Hans Rodriguez & Carmen Buettner

  2. Agricultural Sciences Faculty – GICAP, Francisco de Paula Santander University, Cúcuta, Colombia

    Marlon Hans Rodriguez

  3. Division Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Ingo Schuch & Uwe Schmidt

Authors
  1. Martina Bandte
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  2. Marlon Hans Rodriguez
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  3. Ingo Schuch
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  4. Uwe Schmidt
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  5. Carmen Buettner
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Correspondence to Martina Bandte.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and that neither animal nor human rights are violated.

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Communicated by N. Lazarovitch.

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Bandte, M., Rodriguez, M., Schuch, I. et al. Plant viruses in irrigation water: reduced dispersal of viruses using sensor-based disinfection. Irrig Sci 34, 221–229 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-016-0500-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00271-016-0500-1

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