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Ecology and Epidemiology

Analysis of Factors Affecting Dispersal of Podosphaera leucotricha Conidia. T. B. Sutton, Research associate, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, Present address of senior author: Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27650; A. L. Jones, professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Phytopathology 69:380-383. Accepted for publication 12 October 1978. Copyright 1979 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-69-380.

Dispersal of conidia of Podosphaera leucotricha was monitored in the summers of 1973 and 1974 with a Burkard recording volumetric spore trap or a Kramer-Collins spore sampler. Dispersal was diurnal with peak concentration in early afternoon and a distinct subsidiary peak after dark. The concentration of conidia in the air was associated positively with wind velocity, temperature, and solar radiation and negatively with relative humidity and leaf wetness. Three general patterns of spore dispersal were observed: spore dispersal highly correlated with environmental variables, spore dispersal with little or no correlation with the environmental variables, and dispersal during rainfall.