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Disease Control and Pest Management

Viability of Microsclerotia of Verticillium dahliae Reduced by a Metabolite Produced by Talaromyces flavus. D. R. Fravel, Soilborne Diseases Laboratory, Plant Protection Institute, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705; K. K. Kim, and G. C. Papavizas. Soilborne Diseases Laboratory, Plant Protection Institute, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD 20705. Phytopathology 77:616-619. Accepted for publication 6 November 1986. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1987.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-77-616.

Talaromyces flavus produced a metabolite that retarded radial growth and killed microsclerotia of Verticillium dahliae in vitro. Microsclerotia of two isolates of V. dahliae were killed (LD₉₅) in less than 3 hr in vitro. Maximum titer of the metabolite was produced by T. flavus after 5 days in a high-carbon liquid medium that was shaken at 120 rpm and incubated at 27 C. The metabolite was also able to kill microsclerotia in each of three sterile soils and in sand, indicating that the physical components of the soils did not inactivate the metabolite. The production of this metabolite may be involved in the biological control of V. dahliae by T. flavus.