Flow of B otrytis cinerea inoculum between lettuce crop and soil

• Published in: Plant pathology 2015-06, Vol.64 (3), p.701-708
• Main Authors: Leyronas, C., Duffaud, M., Parès, L., Jeannequin, B., Nicot, P. C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0032-0862; 1365-3059
• DOI: 10.1111/ppa.12284

B otrytis cinerea causes grey mould, a disease common on many economically important crops. Although much attention is paid to the airborne inoculum of this fungus, as it sporulates abundantly in favourable conditions, knowledge on the abundance and genetic characteristics of soilborne inoculum could help improve control strategies. In this study, the soilborne inoculum of B . cinerea was quantified in two greenhouses at different times before and after the cultivation of four successive lettuce crops. Between 0 and 1177 colony‐forming units ( CFU ) of B . cinerea per gram of soil were recorded. There was no significant correlation between abundance of soilborne inoculum and subsequent disease incidence on lettuce ( P  =   0·11). Sixty‐five isolates collected from diseased plants and 66 isolates collected from the soil were investigated for their genetic diversity. The soil strains showed lower genetic diversity than the lettuce strains when considering the unbiased gene diversity within the nine microsatellite loci, the mean number of alleles per locus and the haplotypic diversity. The genetic differentiation between lettuce and soil strains decreased over three successive lettuce crops. At the same time, the genetic structure of the two groups of strains tended to become similar. These results are consistent with the hypothesis of a flow of inoculum between the lettuce crop and the soil, and vice versa. The study shows that grey mould management should pay more attention to the inoculum of B . cinerea present in the soil.