Garlic Pink Rot Disease and Crop Yield as Affected by Salinity and Irrigation Water Deficit

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, 12619, Giza, Egypt.

Abstract

Greenhouse experiments were conducted in Ismailia governorate (El-Kassassine county), Egypt, during 2017/2018 growing seasons to determine the effect of both water salinity or water deficit at different treatments consisted of four levels of salinity (10, 15, 20 and 25 mM NaCl/L) and 3 rates of water stress (80, 60 and 40% W.H.C.) on pink root incidence and yield of garlic (Allium sativum L.) cv. (Sids-40), as well as the garlic plant responses. Irrigation with saline water increased pink root incidence in garlic inoculated with Pyrenochaeta terrestris, and yield was decreased. Irrigation of garlic until 20 mM NaCl/L did not affect cloves germination, plant height, leaves dry weight, cell sap concentration and proline concentration, but partial effect was observed at 25 mM NaCl/L of garlic grown in soil uninfested with the tested pathogen. Garlic plants exposed to 80% rate of W.H.C. weren’t significantly affected, disease incidence, cloves germination, plant height, leaves dry weight, cell sap concentration and proline concentration and yield produced from infested or uninfested soils showed insignificant variation in comparison with 100 % W.H.C. At 60 and 40 % rates of W.H.C., noticeable increases in pink root incidence were found on plants inoculated with P. terrestris, and their yield was decreased. Cloves germination, plant height and leaves dry weight values were significantly reduced, whereas cell sap concentration and proline concentration values were significantly increased under water deficit of plants grown in uninfested soil comparing to the check. In this respect, 40% of W.H.C. highly affected the disease incidence and crop yield compared to the other tested rates.

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