Resistance to Phytophthora Species among Rootstocks for Cultivated Prunus Species

Abstract

Many species of Phytophthora de Bary are important pathogens of cultivated Prunus L. species worldwide, often invading the trees via their rootstocks. In a series of greenhouse trials, resistance to Phytophthora was tested in new and standard rootstocks for cultivated stone fruits, including almond. Successive sets of the rootstocks, propagated as hardwood cuttings or via micropropagation, were transplanted into either noninfested potting soil or potting soil infested with Phytophthora cactorum (Lebert & Cohn) J. Schöt., Phytophthora citricola Sawada, Phytophthora megasperma Drechs, or Phytophthora niederhauserii Z.G. Abad & J.A. Abad. Soil flooding was included in all trials to facilitate pathogen infection. In some trials, soil flooding treatments were varied to examine their effects on the rootstocks in both the absence and presence of Phytophthora. Two to 3 months after transplanting, resistance to the pathogens was assessed based on the severity of root and crown rot. ‘Hansen 536’ was consistently more susceptible than ‘Lovell’, ‘Nemaguard’, ‘Atlas’, ‘Viking’, ‘Citation’, and ‘Marianna 2624’ to root and/or crown rot caused by P. cactorum, P. citricola, and P. megasperma. By contrast, susceptibility to P. niederhauserii was similarly high among all eight tested genotypes of peach, four genotypes of peach × almond, two genotypes of (almond × peach) × peach, and one genotype of plum × almond. Most plum hybrids were highly and consistently resistant to crown rot caused by P. niederhauserii, but only ‘Marianna 2624’ was highly resistant to both crown and root rot caused by all of the Phytophthora species. The results indicate that there is a broad tendency for susceptibility of peach × almond rootstocks and a broad tendency for resistance of plum hybrid rootstocks to multiple species of Phytophthora.