Internal and external infections of fruits and seeds of peppers by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria

Abstract

Fruit infection by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Doidge 1920) Dye 1978 was monitored by scanning electron microscopy and by bacterial counts. Possible sites for bacterial penetration were through dead flowers and by proliferation of bacteria in the wart (small protuberance) area. Bacterial multiplication was observed in all warts of young, mature, and ripened fruits. Bacterial cells were bound to the fruit surface by fibrillar material. On the fruit surface, bacteria multiplied in small aggregates, submerged in slime. The slime consisted mainly of sucrose units. At later stages of disease development, the slime covered the entire fruit surface in young fruits. Typical scab symptoms appeared only in leaves of inoculated plants, whereas buds, flowers, and fruits of various sizes were symptomless, but later shed; shedding was strongest in young buds. In more mature and ripened fruits, bacterial numbers decreased and there was less shedding. Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria could be detected, in enrichment culture, in low numbers at the seed site (ovary) in inoculated fruits that did not shed.