Effect of different drought levels of soil on Verticillium wilt disease of pistachio.
2006
Mohammadi, Amir Hossein | Mohammadi Mohammad Abad, Akbar | Ma`soumi, Heydar | Ju Kar, Eehsan | Bani Hashemi, Zia`eddin | Panahi, Bahman
Pistachio (Pistacia vera) is an important and valuable horticultural crop in Iran with a growing area of about 380000 ha. Water deficiency and decreasing of rainfall are the most important problem in the major pistachio growing areas. Verticillium wilt disease of pistachio has been reported in some areas. The present experiment was designed to study the effect of drought levels on Verticillium wilt disease using three common P. vera rootstocks (cvs. Badami-e-Zarand, Qazvini and Sarakhs) and three levels of drought (0, 40 and 80% of soil moisture deficit) in greenhouse conditions. Drought stresses was applied before inoculation. The experimental design was a factorial combination of treatments arranged in a randomized completely design with four replications. Nine-weeks-old pistachio seedlings were transplanted into 5 kg pots containing loam virgin soil infested with 40 microsclerotia of Verticillium dahliae per gram and drought stress was applied. Irrigation of pots was done using tap water and adjusted by weighing. Increasing soil droughtness caused more reduction of shoot and root dry weight, number of leaves and seedlings survival in all cultivars. Eighteen percent of soil moisture deficit treatment had the most effect on the above characters and had significant differences compared to other drought stress. Drought stress significantly reduced colonization of stem and root. Cultivar Sarakhs had higher percentage colonization compared to Qazvini and Badami. Interaction between drought and Verticillium treatments reduced dry weight of shoot and root, number of leaves and seedlings survival compared to drought stress in all cultivars. Results of the present study showed that Verticillium wilt disease of pistachio reduces with the reduction of soil moisture in greenhouse conditions.
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