Prevalence of Fusarium oxysporum formae speciales and races in protected tomato growing areas of Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey, their molecular differentiation and integrated disease menagement of crown and root rot (F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycoersici Jarvis & Shoomaker)

Fusarium crown and root rot and Fusarium wilt are the most important diseases of tomato grown under protected conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Turkey. The diseases cause important economic losses in the region. Survey studies were conducted in tomato growing greenhouses of Adana and Mersin provinces to determine disease incidence and severity of Fusarium crown and root rot (FORL) and Fusarium wilt (FOL) during November 2007-April 2008. Disease incidence and disease severity values were 35.0% and 18.1% in Adana province and 43.2% and 20.4% in Mersin province, respectively. Disease prevalence in terms of number of diseased greenhouses and diseased area were 56:1% and 68:1 in Adana province and, 59.1% and 56.4% in Mersin province, respectively. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) studies characterized 87 isolates, representative of different locations, as FORL (60%) and FOL (40%). Differentiation in diagnosis was detected between conventional methods and PCR analyses. In the case of integrated management of FORL, Solarisation (S) and Metham Sodium (MS) application was effective on pathogen vigour at 5, 15, 25, and 35 cm soil depth. Solarisation alone did not result the lethal soil temperature for the pathogen at 35 cm soil depth. In greenhouse experiments conducted for two years, the least disease incidence in soils that S+MS was not applied occurred in BS and TH-T applications with 21.3% and 20.0%, respectively. Bacillus subtilis QST-713 (BS) and Thricoderma harzianum (TH-T) applications among biological agents in FORL control yielded promising results.