Evaluation of Allium germplasm for susceptibility to foliage bacterial soft rot caused by Pseudomonas marginalis and Pseudomonas viridiflava

Abstract

Eighty-five accessions of 33 species of Allium were screened for susceptibility to foliar bacterial soft rot caused by Pseudomonas marginalis (Brown 1918) Stevens 1925 and P. viridiflava (Burkholder 1930) Dowson 1939. Plants grown in a greenhouse were wounded then co-inoculated with cell suspensions of P. marginalis and P. viridiflava. A. cepa ’Pukekohe Longkeeper’ was highly susceptible to foliage soft rot. Mean disease scores (0 = no disease; 5 = severe soft rot) of the other Allium accessions ranged from 0 (an accession of A. sativum) to 4.9 (A.fistulosum ’White Lisbon'). Statistically significant differences in mean disease scores were detected between accessions of individual Allium spp. and between different Allium spp. © 1998 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.