SUBJECT

Plant Pathology II

practical

master

Faculty of Science

Biology MSc

2

Semesters 1-4

Autumn/Spring semester

1. Practices in plant virology (I.) Isolation of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) from tobacco plants based on the method developed by Gooding & Hebert (1967). Infection of potted tobacco plants with TMV isolated from the infected plants.

2. Practices in plant virology (II.) Assessment of the previous experiment (infection with TMV). Infection of potted tobacco plants with plant tissues infected with TMV. Virus transmission using insect vectors.

3. Practices in phytobacteriology (I.) Assessment of the previous experiment. Isolation of Pseudomonas syringae from diseased tobacco plants. Infection of tobacco with P. syringae cultures.

4. Practices in phytobacteriology (II.) Assessment of the previous experiment and characterization of the newly obtained P. syringae isolates using bacteriological methods.

5. Necrotrophic fungal plant pathogens (I.) Characterization of cultures of Phytophythora infestans, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Botrytis cinerea, Venturia inaequalis, Monilia fructigena, Alternaria alternata, Botryosphaeria spp. and Rhizoctonia solani using light microscopy. Description of morphological patterns. Inoculation of potato slices with P. infestans. Inoculation of carrot pieces with S. sclerotiorum. Inoculation of apple fruits with M. fructigena.

6. Necrotrophic fungal plant pathogens (II.) Assessment of the previous inoculation experiments. Description of morphological patterns of the pathogenic fungi. Induction of zoospore production in P. infestans.

7. First intermittent test Written test based on the practical work carried out during the first six lessons.

8. Biotrophic plant pathogens (I.) Characterization of powdery mildew fungi infecting cucumber (Podosphaera xanthii), barley (Blumeria graminis), tobacco (Golovinomyces orontii) and tomato (Oidium neolycopersici). Germination tests using conidia of these four powdery mildew species.

9. Biotrophic plant pathogens (II.) Examination of the germinating powdery mildew conidia using light microscopy. Morphological patterns of the sexual fruiting bodies of different powdery mildew species examined in herbarium materials. Description of morphological characteristics using light microscopy.

10. Biotrophic plant pathogens (III.) Characterization of rust fungi infecting wheat (Puccinia triticina and P. graminis), oat (P. coronata) and bean (Uromyces phaseoli) using light microscopy. Examination of spores of other rust fungi in herbarium materials. Description of morphological characteristics using light microscopy. Germination tests using uredospores of wheat and bean rusts.

11. Infection processes caused by plant pathogenic fungi (I.) Examination of the germinating rust uredospores using light microscopy. Inoculation of barley varieties resistant and susceptible to powdery mildew with conidia of B. graminis f. sp. hordei. Inoculation of tobacco plants with conidia of G. orontii. Use of a Bürker haemocytometer to determine the concentrations of the conidial suspensions to be used for inoculations. Inoculation of liquid media to produce mycelia of S. sclerotiorum in liquid cultures. 12. Infection processes caused by plant pathogenic fungi (II.) Examination of the potted plants inoculated with powdery mildew. Production of the 'green island' phenomenon in barley plants infected with B. graminis. Inoculation of wheat varieties resistant and susceptible to rust with uredospores of P. triticina. Use of a Bürker haemocytometer to determine the concentrations of the spore suspensions to be used for inoculations. Inoculation of barley and rye seeds with S. sclerotiorum produced in liquid cultures.

13. . Infection processes caused by plant pathogenic fungi (III.) Examination of the potted plants inoculated with rust. Inoculation of potted cucumber, tomato and ragweed plants with barley and rye seeds previously inoculated with S. sclerotiorum. Inoculation of the S. sclerotiorum mycelium on barley and rye seeds with the mycoparasite Coniothyrium minitans. Inoculation of powdery mildew colonies grown on tobacco plants with the mycoparasite Ampelomyces quisqualis. Use of a Bürker haemocytometer to determine the concentrations of the spore suspensions of these two mycoparasites before inoculations.

14. Control of plant pathogens Assessment of the previous experiments: mycoparasitism of S. sclerotiorum on barley and rye seeds and that of powdery mildew colonies on tobacco leaves. Examination of commercial biofungicides such as KONI, AQ10, Trifender, PreStop, using light microscopy.

15. Second intermittent test Written test based on the practical work carried out during the last seven lessons.

• Matthew Dickinson: Molecular Plant Pathology. Garland Science, 2004

• AVSS Sambamurty: A Textbook of Plant Pathology: Pathogen and Plant Disease, I. K. International Pvt Ltd, 1992

• James B. Sinclair, Onkar Dev Dhingra: Basic Plant Pathology Methods, 2nd ed., CRC Press, 1995