VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Long-Term Survival of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria in Tomato and Pepper Seeds. Y. Bashan, Instructor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel, Present address of senior author: Division of Plant Pathology, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel; Y. Okon(2), and Y. Henis(3). (2)(3)Senior lecturer, and professor, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, P.O. Box 12, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Phytopathology 72:1143-1144. Accepted for publication 30 December 1981. Copyright 1982 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-72-1143.

Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, the causal agents of bacterial speck of tomato and bacterial scab of pepper, survived on dried seeds for 20 and 10 yr, respectively. Seedlings from old infested seeds either developed visible disease symptoms or no symptoms. Symptomless plants grown under high relative humidity contained massive populations of the pathogen.