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The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020.

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Other Authors: Coutinho, Teresa A.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Coutinho, Teresa A.
author_browse Coutinho, Teresa A.
author_facet Coutinho, Teresa A.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:37:40.523Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/78531 The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae Coutinho, Teresa A. khumbuzile.bophela@up.ac.za Petersen, Yolanda Bull, Carolee Bophela, Khumbuzile Nokwanda Biological Sciences Agricultural Sciences UCTD Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. Bacterial canker is among the most common bacterial diseases affecting the production of stone fruit trees in South Africa. As reported in previous studies, the causal agents associated with bacterial canker of stone fruit trees include Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae and P. syringae pv. morsprunorum. Since these studies date back to the1980s, a current study is required to investigate which causal agents are responsible for bacterial canker of stone fruit trees in South Africa. In addition, plum tree decline was reported in the Western Cape late 2015. The cause of the tree deaths was unknown as dying plum trees were of different ages and cultivars. The assumption was that several factors were responsible for the plum tree mortality including bacterial canker, drought and ring nematodes. Anecdotal evidence from a report in Franschhoek in the previous year suggested that ring nematodes were linked to a bacterial canker outbreak which resulted in plum tree mortality. Therefore, the overall objective in this study was to determine the effect of drought and ring nematode stresses in predisposing plum trees to bacterial canker infection. Firstly, the causal agents of bacterial canker of stone fruit trees in the Western Cape were identified using a multilocus sequence typing approach based on four housekeeping loci. The strains isolated from symptomatic plant material of stone fruit trees were delineated into two phylogenetic groups, namely, P. syringae sensu stricto and P. viridiflava. The delimitation into the two respective genetic clusters was further corroborated by whole genome-based analyses. Furthermore, the Pseudomonas strains in the present study were found to have a relatively increasing pangenome comprising a small set of core genes and a large accessory genome. These strains also consisted of a small T3SE repertoire complemented by detection of additional virulence factors, such as biosynthetic clusters of three phytotoxins, i.e. phaseolotoxin, syringomycin and syringopeptin. Most of the Pseudomonas strains comprised a locus encoding an insecticidal toxin indicating a potential entomopathogenic ability in these strains that is yet to be proven. A disease survey was also conducted in 12 major plum-producing farms in the Western Cape evaluating the link between high ring nematode densities and bacterial canker outbreaks. The findings from the survey revealed a weak to no association between high ring nematode densities and bacterial canker infection. On the other hand, drought was shown to significantly influence both the ring nematode densities and the occurrence of bacterial canker infection. In contrast, the greenhouse study undertaken in this study showed that drought did not influence the occurrence of bacterial canker infection as lesion development of inoculated plum seedlings of two cultivars did not significantly progress under soil water deficit. However, the physiology of these plum seedlings was altered under water stress as illustrated by reduced net rate of CO2 assimilation, which reduces the photosynthetic rate in these seedlings. This study has shown that drought and ring nematode had very little impact on bacterial canker infection. It is now apparent that additional factors also contributed to the plum tree decline. NRF Hortgro UP Microbiology and Plant Pathology PhD Restricted 2021-02-12T10:04:47Z 2021-02-12T10:04:47Z 2021-04-30 2020 Thesis Bophela, KN 2021, The effect of drought and ring nematode stress combination in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, viewed yymmdd http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78531 A2021 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78531 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Biological Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
UCTD
The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae
title The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae
title_full The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae
title_fullStr The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae
title_full_unstemmed The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae
title_short The effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing Prunus domestica (plum) to infection by Pseudomonas syringae
title_sort effect of drought and ring nematode in predisposing prunus domestica plum to infection by pseudomonas syringae
topic Biological Sciences
Agricultural Sciences
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78531