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Carrots: Further development of artificial inoculation techniques for cavity spot caused by Pythium violae
Summary
Summary: Cavity spot caused principally by Pythium violae is the major disease of carrots in the UK. Management of the disease relies on the fungicide metalaxyl-M although its efficacy is variable. The reliance on this single fungicide is of major concern to the industry as its future registration status and sustainability is uncertain. To address this, previous AHDB Horticulture projects have evaluated potential new control measures including fungicides, biological control treatments, calcium applications and biofumigation. However, progress has been severely hampered by a lack of sufficient disease levels in many of these trials and hence new treatments have not been clearly identified. This project will build on a previous work in FV391a to develop artificial inoculation techniques for P. violae in order to produce cavity spot symptoms in pot and field grown carrots. The feasibility of large scale inoculum production using a large fermenter will also be evaluated.