SENSITIVITY TO CROWN GALL IN MICROPROPAGATED PEACHES

ISHS Acta Horticulturae 254: II International Peach Symposium

SENSITIVITY TO CROWN GALL IN MICROPROPAGATED PEACHES

Authors:

A. Zoina, A.M. Simeone

Abstract:
Five peach rootstocks and seven cultivars were examined for their reaction to crown gall induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Smith and Townsend) Conn. The rootstocks and the cultivars were: Peach, SB2, GF 677, Hansen 2168, Hansen 536, Armking, Firebrite, Flaminia, Maycrest, Nectaross, Redhaven, Suncrest - the first two from seed and the rest from micropropagation. Plantlets were inoculated by root immersion in a bacterial suspension (1x10⁵ cfu ml^-1) for 15 seconds with two different strains of agrobacteria: T2 (biovar 1, from GF 677) and 2P (biovar 2, from peach seedling). One half of the plantlets were wounded at the crown with a needle.

In January 1988, eight months after transplanting, the plants were uprooted and checked for disease. Data obtained were statistically analysed and some preliminary observations were made:

GF 677, Hansen 2168, Hansen 536 were the most sensitive plants to the disease. Important differences were not evidenced among the other genotypes.
Strain 2P was significantly more aggressive than strain T2.
The inoculation method (with or without wound) does not seem to affect the response of the plants. This finding indicates that operators should be very careful when handling the plantlets.

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