Setting a rating scale for assess Rhizoctonia solani lesions on cotton, soybean and common bean seedlings / Ajuste de uma escala de notas para avaliar lesões de Rhizoctonia solani em plântulas de algodão, soja e feijão

Diseases incited by soilborne fungi are responsible for reducing the yield and cause significant impact to almost all crops. Among then, Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 is considered the most important in the cotton, common bean and soybean crops in Brazil. The use of diagrammatic scale or rating scales, as a tool to help in the quantification of the severity of a particular disease, is more common for foliar diseases. Considering the lack of a standardized, illustrated and easy-to-apply methodology for assessing the severity of R. solani lesions in cotton, soybean and common bean seedlings, a simple and precise rating scale was developed with the objective to fill this gap. The proposed scale shows four levels of disease severity, with the descriptions and illustrations for each type of lesion observed in the cotton, soybean and common bean seedlings. This developed scale was validated in many experiments and proved to be adequate for severity assessments of R. solani lesions on cotton, soybean and common bean seedlings.

Doenças causadas por fungos de solo reduzem a produtividade e impactam de forma significativa quase todas as culturas. Dentre elas, Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 é considerada a mais importante nas culturas de algodão, feijão e soja no Brasil. A utilização de escalas diagramáticas ou escalas de notas, como ferramenta para auxiliar na quantificação da severidade de uma determinada doença, é mais comum quando se trata de doenças foliares. Considerando a inexistência, até então, de metodologia padronizada, ilustrada e de fácil aplicação para a avaliação da severidade de lesões de R. solani em plântulas de algodão, soja e feijão, desenvolveu-se uma escala de notas, simples e precisa, com o objetivo de suprir essa lacuna. A escala proposta apresenta quatro níveis de severidade de doença, com descrições e ilustrações para cada tipo de lesão observada nas plântulas de algodão, soja e feijão. Essa escala foi validade em inúmeros experimentos, provando ser adequada para a avaliação da severidade de lesões de R. solani nas plântulas de algodão, soja e feijão

Impact of water potential on growth and germination of Fusarium solani soilborne pathogen of peanut

Studies were conducted to determine the effect of osmotic and matric stress on germination and growth of two Fusarium solani strains, the etiological agent responsible of peanut brown root rot. Both strains had similar osmotic and matric potential ranges that allowed growth, being the latter one narrower. F. solani showed the ability to grow down to -14 MPa at 25 °C in non-ionic modified osmotic medium, while under matric stress this was limited to -8.4 MPa at 25 °C. However, both strains were seen to respond differently to decreasing osmotic and matric potentials, during early stages of germination. One strain (RC 338) showed to be more sensitive to matric than osmotic (non ionic) and the other one (RC 386) showed to be more sensitive to osmotic than matric imposed water stress. After 24 h of incubation, both isolates behaved similarly. The minimum water potential for germination was -8.4 MPa on glycerol amended media and -5.6 MPa for NaCl and PEG amended media, respectively. The knowledge of the water potential range which allow mycelia growth and spore germination of F. solani provides an inside to the likely behaviour of this devastating soilborne plant pathogen in nature and has important practical implications.