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Pathogenicity and Histopathology of Phytophthora cinnamomi on Highbush and Rabbiteye Blueberry. R. D. Milholland, Professor of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607; Phytopathology 65:789-793. Accepted for publication 24 February 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-789.

All highbush and rabbiteye blueberry cultivars tested were susceptible to infection by Phytophthora cinnamomi. Isolates from blueberry, azalea, and cedar differed in pathogenicity, and rabbiteye blueberry cultivars were consistently more resistant to root-rot than highbush cultivars. Rabbiteye tolerance was partially correlated negatively with zoospore attraction and accumulation on young rootlets. Although the fungus infected the epidermis, cortex, and vascular tissue of both blueberry species, colonization of the vascular tissue by the fungus in rabbiteye roots was less extensive. No anatomical differences were observed between highbush and rabbiteye root systems.