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Tolerance of Fruit of Different Tomato Cultivars to Soft Rot. J. A. Bartz, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32601; J. P. Crill, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Agricultural Research and Education Center, Bradenton 33505. Phytopathology 62:1085-1088. Accepted for publication 20 March 1972. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-62-1085.

Tomato cultivars differ in their tolerance to soft rot caused by Erwinia aroideae. Two to three times as many mature green Walter tomatoes were rotted 3 and 7 days after wound inoculation as were those of Florida MH-1 or Homestead-24. However, all inoculated fruit eventually rotted. Exposure of the fruit for 5 days to 45 F before inoculation greatly increased the susceptibility of all fruit to soft rot, but did not eliminate the differences among varieties. Increasing the inoculum level from 10⁵ bacteria/ml to 10⁷ bacteria/ml approximately doubled the amount of decay noted 3 and 7 days after inoculation.