Control of crown rot in strawberry by arbuscolar mycorrhizal fungi

BRANZANTI¹ M. BARBARA, MARINA GENTILI¹ & DAVIDE NERI².

¹ Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Agrarie ed Ambientali, Via Brecce Bianche, Ancona 60131, ITALY. ²Dipartimento di Energetica, Via Brecce Bianche, Ancona 60131, ITALY.

Micropropagated plantlets of strawberry (Fragraria x ananassa), cv. Addie and cv. Idea, with different susceptibility to crown rot disease, were inoculated at the beginning of the weaning stage with Glomus spp. (commercial inoculum). After eight weeks, half of the mycorrhizal and half of the non-mycorrhizal plants were infected with Phytophthora cactorum. The growth-promoting effect of endomycorrhizal fungi risulted in significant differences in "Addie" and "Idea". The cultivars showed a different response to the disease irrespective of the presence or absence of mycorrhizae. Endomiycorrhizal inoculation did not decrease crown rot severity in the susceptible cultivar but improved its tolerance against crown rot determining a compensation for pathogen damage.

Key words: fragaria x ananassa, glomus spp., phythopthora cactorum.