Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Master of Science

Program

Biology

Supervisor

Dr. George Lazarovits

Abstract

Potato common scab is a tuber- or soil-borne disease caused by several species in the genus Streptomyces. The objective of this study was to study the treatment of seed tubers with Pseudomonas spp. as a means to reduce common scab incidence and severity, and improve seed tuber quality and marketability. All four Pseudomonas spp. tested inhibited Streptomyces SS-1; PEI-1 and AL-1 in vitro.

In laboratory trials, treatments of seed tubers with Pseudomonas strains A25, A145, and A153, significantly reduced in the number of pathogenic Streptomyces in comparison to untreated tubers within five weeks (P<0.05). Seed tuber treatments with A25 and A153 significantly reduced scab incidence and severity in Russets Burbank and Prospect, respectively. This study also demonstrated the use of TaqMan qPCR detecting the txtAB gene analysis as a novel and practical method to quantify pathogenic Streptomyces in tissues of scabby and apparently clean potato seed tubers.

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