Dissemination of mildew spores in a glasshouse

Abstract

Epidemics of fungal plant diseases in a greenhouse sometimes show a rather rapid dispersal; in other cases, however, the epidemic stays isolated in a part of the greenhouse. The spore-dispersal system in glasshouses is very complex and as a consequence it will be extremely hard to design a model for it. The system depends on a number of variables, relating to pathogen, environment and man. Much attention is given to the environment as the variable affecting the dispersal of fungal spores; man, however, appears to be the most underestimated and perhaps most important of the three. In a series of experiments the dissemination of a typical airborne spore type, the conidiospore of Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei (barley powdery mildew), has been followed.