The Influence of Pesticides and Biopesticides on Morphological Changes in Raspberry (Rubus ideaus L. „POLKA“) Infected with the Bacterium Agrobaterium tumefaciens

Abstract

The production of raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) as one of the most promising branches of fruit growing in Bosnia and Herzegovina could be permanently endangered due to the increasing incidence of crown gall disease caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The aim of this paper was to examine the morphological changes on raspberry seedlings caused by the bacterium A. tumefaciens, as well as the size and number of tumors depending on the applied biological or chemical treatment. The strain Agrobacterium tumefaciens MTCC 431 (ATCC 15955) was used. Morphometric parameters on raspberry seedlings were measured using the ImageJ 1.48v program. A binocular magnifier at 20x magnification was used to measure the the gook diameter. The computer program R c. 3.4.0 was used for a statistical analysis of results and an analysis of main components. It was observed that the raspberries inoculated with A. tumefaciens had a lower growth potential when compared to the control line. Rhizobium rhizogenes strain K1026, as an active substance of biopesticide, had a positive effect on the growth of infected raspberry plants, reducing bacterial infection. The applied chemical agent based on copper (I) oxide demonstrated lesser impact on the intensity of A. tumefaciens infection when compared to the biological agent. In this paper, a lower intensity of changes in raspberry plants was observed when the biopesticides and fungicides were applied simultaneously, in comparison with the individual treatments.