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POSTERS: Host resistance screening

Strawberry cultivars have differing susceptibility to the two major Colletotrichum pathogens, C. acutatum and C. gloeosporioides.
Teresa Seijo - Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, University of Florida. Vance Whitaker- Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Natalia Peres- University of Florida - Gulf Coast Research and Education Center

Several species of Colletotrichum are known to infect strawberries worldwide. The two most important species in Florida are C. acutatum and C. gloeosporioides. The predominate symptom of C. acutatum is anthracnose fruit rot. C. gloeosporioides predominately infects the crown causing mortality. The diseases are managed with a combination of chemical control and cultivar resistance. Fourteen cultivars were evaluated in the field for incidence of anthracnose fruit rot (C. acutatum) and incidence of wilt and disease progress over time (C. gloeosporioides) for the last twelve or nine seasons, respectively. Each cultivar was evaluated for a minimum of two seasons, but seven cultivars were evaluated for at least seven seasons. ‘Cabrillo’, ‘Monterey’, ‘Petaluma’ and ‘San Andreas’ are susceptible to both species, whereas ‘Winterstar’ and ‘Florida Elyana’ are moderately resistant and resistant to both species, respectively. Sensation® ‘Florida127’ and ‘Fronteras’ are both moderately resistant to C. gloeosporioides but are resistant and susceptible, respectively, to C. acutatum. ‘Strawberry Festival’, ‘Florida Beauty’, ‘Florida Brilliance’, ‘Florida Radiance’ and ‘Sweet Charlie’ are all susceptible to C. gloeosporioides but moderately to highly resistant to C. acutatum. ‘Treasure’ is highly resistant to C. gloeosporioides but highly susceptible to C. acutatum. These results are consistent with the recent reports that the resistances are controlled by different genes.