Previous View
 
APSnet Home
 
Plant Disease Home


Disease Note.

Occurrence of Tomato Pith Necrosis Caused by Pseudomonas corrugata in Massachusetts. Robert L. Wick, University of Massachusetts, Suburban Experiment Station, Waltham, MA 02154-8096. Karen K. Rane, University of Massachusetts, Suburban Experiment Station, Waltham, MA 02154-8096. Plant Dis. 74:80. Accepted for publication 17 August 1989. Copyright 1990 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-74-0080A.

During 1988, external stem lesions, adventitious roots, and necrotic pith that was hollowed or chambered were observed several times among field and greenhouse tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum MilL) in Massachusetts. Bacterial strains isolated from diseased plants at two sites were characterized. Pseudomonas corrugata Scarlett et al (ATCC 29736) was used as a positive control for all tests. The strains from tomato were nonfluorescent, aerobic, gram-negative rods that were positive for oxidase, nitrate reductase, arginine dihydrolase, and utilization of malonate, alanine, trehalose, arginine, mannitol, and m-inositol. They were negative for levan, pectinase, tobacco hypersensitivity, and utilization of cellobiose and sorbitol. Pathogenicity was demonstrated by needle-inoculation to the pith of cvs. Jet Star and Caruso. Nine weeks after inoculation, the bacterium was recovered from the margins of necrotic pith from both cultivars. This is the first report of tomato pith necrosis in the New England region. It was first reported in the United States in California and Florida in 1983 (1,2).

References: (1) J. B. Jones et al. Plant Dis. 67:425, 1983. (2) M. Lai et al. Plant Dis. 67:110, 1983.