11. The influence of Collembolans on conidia formation and spread of Fusarium oxysporum Schltdl. of cucumber and of tomato plants

Author: Lilyana Koleva, Georgi Dimitrov, Gospodin Kolev

DOI: n/a

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Under laboratory conditions, the role of Collembola for the spread of Fusarium oxysporum in soil and their activity on the suppression of fungal infection were investigated.
In this work was studied the effect of the two Collembola species (Onychiurus fimatus Gisin. 1952, Folsomia candida Willem 1902) on the survival and inoculum potential of soil-borne fungal pathogens F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici.
The Collembola are significantly able to reduce the inoculum of the soil-borne plant pathogen F. oxysporum by feeding on mycelia and spores. The experiments to the spread of conidia of F. oxysporum by Collembola species O. fimatus and F. candida have demonstrated that the insects consume a large quantity of conidia. The number and germination ability of fungus conidia was drastically reduced during the intestinal passage.