Biocontrol Science and Technology (2000) 10, 687-693

Geoffrey W. Zehnder, Changbin Yao, Gang Wei and Joseph W. Kloepper (2000)
Influence of methyl bromide fumigation on microbe-induced resistance in cucumber
Biocontrol Science and Technology 10 (5), 687-693
Abstract: Field experiments were conducted to evaluate growth promotion and induced systemic disease resistance (ISR) in cucumber mediated by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with and without methyl bromide soil fumigation. In both fumigated and nonfumigated plots, numbers of cucumber beetles, Acalymma vittata (F.), and the incidence of bacterial wilt disease, caused by the beetle-transmitted pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila, were significantly lower with PGPR treatment compared with the nonbacterized control. However, in PGPR-treated plots, the incidence of bacterial wilt was more than 2-fold lower in the nonfumigated treatments compared with fumigated treatments, indicating that the level of PGPR-mediated ISR was greater without methyl bromide fumigation than with methyl bromide. Cucumber plant growth at 21 days after planting was greater in fumigated plots than in nonfumigated plots; however, plant height values in the nonfumigated, PGPR treatments and the fumigated, PGPR treatments were equivalent. This suggests that PGPR treatment compensated for delayed plant growth that often occurs in nonfumigated soil. These results indicate that, in cucumber production systems, withdrawal of methyl bromide will not negatively impact PGPRmediated ISR, and also that PGPR may have potential as an alternative to methyl bromide fumigation.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Geoffrey W. Zehnder

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host
environment - cropping system/rotation

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Acalymma vittata	Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
	Erwinia tracheiphila	Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)