Besteht das Risiko der Verschleppung der Bakteriellen Ringfäule der Kartoffel durch den Krautschläger?

In 2001 and 2002, two field trials were performed by the Plant Protection Service (PPS) of the Landwirtschaftskammer Weser-Ems in Oldenburg and the Institute for Plant Protection of the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LIL) in Freising respectively to examine the transmission of the bacterial ring rot pathogen of potato (Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus) by haulm cutting. In the experiment conducted by the PPS in Oldenburg a lawn-trimme was used to simulate haulm cutting, before a bacterial suspension was sprayed on the ends of the cut haulms. Two cultivars (early and late) were tested and also the effect of an additional chemical measure for haulm destruction on the transmission of the pathogen was determined. In the trial performed at the LIL in Freising plots with infected plants for the contamination of the haulm cutter were treated immediately prior to plots with healthy plants. Infections of stems (re-growth) and tubers of the plants were determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and indirect immunofluorescence antibody staining (IFAS). In the trials conducted with the haulm cutter, ring rot could be detected in the re-growth of 60% of the plants derived from healthy tubers 4 weeks after haulm cutting. It was confirmed in a bioassay, that the isolated pathogens were viable and virulent. Although the ring rot pathogen was transmitted to great extent to the leaf material, no infection of progeny tubers occurred in a total of 450 tested plants. However in general a migration of the transmitted pathogen to the tubers cannot be excluded. Therefore further on it is advisable to clean an disinfect the haulm cutter before each use. © Springer-Verlag 2004.