RESPONSE OF STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS: 'CAMAROSA', 'CANDONGA' AND 'VENTANA' TO INOCULATION WITH ISOLATES OF MACROPHOMINA PHASEOLINA

The presence of the soil-borne fungus Macrophomina phaseolina which causes crown and root rot of strawberries has recently been reported in Huelva, Spain. The response toward this pathogen of the cultivars: ‘Camarosa’, ‘Candonga’ and ‘Ventana’ (the most common strawberry cultivars planted in this area) was characterized by artificial inoculation under greenhouse conditions. Six isolates were used in two pathogenicity assays with different inoculation methods: i) by inserting a fungus-colonized toothpick into each crown and ii) by pouring a sclerotia suspension into the pots. The areas under the disease progress curves were used as a disease severity measure for statistical comparisons. For the toothpick inoculation method there were no differences on severity between cultivars or isolates. For the sclerotia suspension inoculation method, results indicate that characterised cultivars manifest different susceptibility to crown and root rot caused by M. phaseolina depending on the isolate.