Browsing by Author "Ojanperä, Taru"

The causal agents of Potato scab, S. scapies, S. turbidiscapies and S. aureofaciens spoil the quality of tubers, slow down the formation of potato seedlings, increase the number of small sized tubers and therefore can have a significant impact on the potato harvest. Sometimes the technical methods applied in the potato farming are not effective enough and there are no chemical means available to prevent potato scab. In this work the properties of selected Finnish Actinomyces-isolates were studied from the point of view of biological control. Both potato scab forming and stains that do not cause visible signs of potato scab in tubers were selected for the study. The purpose was to study the ability of the stains to inhibit the growth of potato scab bacteria in different pH-conditions. In addition the ability of Streptomyces-strains to inhibit the growth of silver scurf, stem cancer and black scurf was studied. The competitive balance between different Actinomyces and fungal strains was tested on plates. Greenhouse tests were used to study the root infesting of Actinomyces strains. Streptomyces strains inhibited each others growth. This inhibition was not linked to scab. All strains tested prevented the growth of silver scurf and ps pathogens but strains S.griseoviridis ja 16IV turned out being especially effective in preventing. All strains grew in pH-conditions 5.5-8.0. An unknown Streptomyces strain 16IV did not grow well in pH 5.5 and S. turbidiscapies which is known to persist in acidic conditions grew well also in pH 8.0. All tested strains colonized potato root. The study showed that some of the isolates had potential for future studies in biological control. More research is needed to study the root colonization and the antagonism properties of selected strains in root conditions. The causal agents of Potato scab, S. scapies, S. turbidiscapies and S. aureofaciens spoil the quality of tubers, slow down the formation of potato seedlings, increase the number of small sized tubers and therefore can have a significant impact on the potato harvest. Sometimes the technical methods applied in the potato farming are not effective enough and there are no chemical means available to prevent potato scab. In this work the properties of selected Finnish Actinomyces-isolates were studied from the point of view of biological control. Both potato scab forming and stains that do not cause visible signs of potato scab in tubers were selected for the study. The purpose was to study the ability of the stains to inhibit the growth of potato scab bacteria in different pH-conditions. In addition the ability of Streptomyces-strains to inhibit the growth of silver scurf, stem cancer and black scurf was studied. The competitive balance between different Actinomyces and fungal strains was tested on plates. Greenhouse tests were used to study the root infesting of Actinomyces strains. Streptomyces strains inhibited each others growth. This inhibition was not linked to scab. All strains tested prevented the growth of silver scurf and ps pathogens but strains S.griseoviridis ja 16IV turned out being especially effective in preventing. All strains grew in pH-conditions 5.5-8.0. An unknown Streptomyces strain 16IV did not grow well in pH 5.5 and S. turbidiscapies which is known to persist in acidic conditions grew well also in pH 8.0. All tested strains colonized potato root. The study showed that some of the isolates had potential for future studies in biological control. More research is needed to study the root colonization and the antagonism properties of selected strains in root conditions.