One of the major field constraints to seed production in safflower has proven tobe soil born pathogens, Phytophthora drechsleri and Pythium ultimum. In order toevaluate the efficiency of a field-laboratory selection method to improve resistanceof safflower against soil born pathogens, Ph. drechsleri and P. ultimum, a two-yearinvestigation was conducted. The results showed that selection is an e...

There is increasing evidence that microbial volatiles (VOCs) play an important role in natural suppression of soil-borne diseases, but little is known on the factors that influence production of suppressing VOCs. In the current study we examined whether a stress-induced change in soil microbial community composition would affect the production by soils of VOCs suppressing the plant-pathogenic o...

Leaf composts were studied for their suppressive effects on Pythium ultimum sporangium germination, cottonseed colonization, and the severity of Pythium damping-off of cotton. A focus of the work was to assess the role of fatty-acid-metabolizing microbial communities in disease suppression. Suppressiveness was expressed within the first few hours of seed germination as revealed by reduced P. ul...

Fungal phytopathogens are cause of many plant diseases and much loss of crop yields, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Chemical fungicides are extensively used in agriculture. However, these products may cause problems such as environmental pollution and affect human health. Microorganisms as biocontrol agents have high potential to control plant pathogens and no effect on the env...

The bacterium Pseudomonas aureofaciens 63-28 is antagonistic to several plant pathogenic fungi, including Pythium spp. The bacterium produced at least four antifungal metabolites active against Pythium ultimum and Phytophthora cryptogea when tested in culture for antifungal activity. Two of these compounds were identified as the novel butyrolactones (Z)-4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-(1-hexenyl)-2-buteno...

The causal agent of root and butt rot of conifer trees, Heterobasidion annosum, is widespread in boreal forests and economically responsible for annual loss of approximately 50 million euros to forest industries in Finland alone and much more at European level. In order to further understand the pathobiology of this fungus at the genome level, a Finnish isolate of H. annosum sensu stricto (isol...

A population genetics approach is used to identify the most likely introduction site and introduction pathway for the North American forest pathogen Heterobasidion irregulare using 101 isolates from six sites in Italy and 34 isolates from five sites in North America. Diversity indices based on sequences from ten loci indicate the highest diversity in Italy is found in Castelfusano/Castelporzian...