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Disease Control and Pest Management

Effect of Heating or Drying on Armillaria mellea or Trichoderma viride and the Relation to Survival of A. mellea in Soil. Donald E. Munnecke, Professor of Plant Pathology, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92502; W. Wilbur(2), and E. F. Darley(3). (2)(3)Staff Research Associate, and Plant Pathologist, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside 92502. Phytopathology 66:1363-1368. Accepted for publication 12 May 1976. Copyright © 1976 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-66-1363.

Sublethal heating of infested roots in soil reduced survival of Armillaria mellea. Similar heat treatments did not produce measurable secondary effects on living peach or citrus trees. Drying of infested root segments followed by burial in soil likewise decreased the survival of this fungus. On agar medium, A. mellea was more sensitive to increased temperature than was its antagonist, Trichoderma viride. In orchards, indirect control of A. mellea by heat treatment followed by action of fungal antagonists on the weakened pathogen may be possible.