Some factors affecting the development and biocontrol of cotton seedling disease

Abstract

The effects of temperature and cultivar on disease development in cotton were investigated in addition to the duration of susceptibility to infection and the timing of infection by Pythium ultimum and Rhizoctonia solani. Symptom development was also monitored. Disease was more severe at day/night temperature regimes of 20/15, 25/20, and 30/25¦C than at 35/30¦C. Disease development differed significantly between cotton cvv. Deltapine 90 and Siokra 1-4 at 30/25¦C and 35/30¦C. In glasshouse trials in field soil, both R. solani and P ultimum were isolated from seeds as early as 2 h after inoculation, although most seeds were not infected with P. ultimum until 10 h after inoculation and with R. solani until 24 h after inoculation. Increasing the duration of exposure to inoculum increased the number of seeds infected and reduced the number of plants surviving. Seedlings were resistant to P. ultimum infection by 14 days after sowing but were not resistant to infection by R. solani until 28 days after sowing.