Influence of Genotype, Salinity, Sulfur Treatments and Planting Container Size on Growth, Yield and Incidence of Gray Mold in Broccoli Plants with Propolis Extract as Disease Control Treatment | ||||
| Hortscience Journal of Suez Canal University | ||||
| Article 5, Volume 6, Issue 1, January 2017, Page 51-63 PDF (443.52 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/hjsc.2017.6396 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Mohamed Elwan1; Khalid Abd El-Hamed1; Mohamed Khalil2 | ||||
| 1Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt | ||||
| 2Department of Agricultural Botany, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| A pot experiment was conducted at the Experimental Research Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia in Fall 2013 till Spring 2014. The experiment included two broccoli genotypes ("Sultan" and "Marathon"), two levels of salinity treatments (0, 100 mM NaCl), two levels of sulfur (0, 3 g/L soil) and two different soil volume containers (2, 4 L), in split-split plot design. The objective was to investigate the impact of genotype, salinity, sulfur treatments and container size on plant growth, yield and incidence of gray mold in broccoli. In addition, the effect of propolis extract as a natural mean of disease control was also explored. The results of the experiment revealed that broccoli genotypes differed in their growth and yield response. Also, salinity treatment adversely affected the growth and yield of broccoli in both genotypes and sulfur treatments were not able to mitigate the unfavorable effects of salinity on broccoli plants. As a result of this experiment, gray mold in broccoli was reported for the first time in Egypt and the fungus w a s identified as Botrytis cinerea based on mycological characteristics. Broccoli genotypes showed different disease severity as "Marathon" cv. was highly susceptible, while "Sultan" cv. showed higher degree of resistance. RAPD analysis identified some specific DNA fragments discriminating between the two genotypes which can explain the different response of both genotypes for yield and disease incidence. Salinity treatment significantly increased the disease severity by an average of 15.6% and 21.2% when compared to the control for plants grown in large and in small culture container, respectively, which demonstrate the effect of container size on the disease response as the larger size promoted the disease severity. Sulfur application was the most effective treatment in decreasing disease severity by 100% in both genotypes and in both container sizes. In presence of salinity, the inhibitory effect of sulfur sustained in "Sultan" cv., while sulfur decreased the disease severity in "Marathon" cv. only by 52.5%. In addition, propolis extract displayed inhibitory effect on Botrytis cinerea growth in both genotypes. Overall, genotypic differences observed for yield and salinity tolerance suggest that breeding programs to enhance such important traits are feasible. Soil-supplied sulfur enhanced broccoli defense to disease and can be suggested as mean of managing nutrition to control plant diseases. Finally, propolis extract can be suggested as a natural mean of gray mold disease control in broccoli. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Botrytis cinerea; gray mold; Brassica oleracea var. italica; salinity; propolis extract; sulfur; container size | ||||
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