Potential of Colletotrichum malvarum for Biological Control of Prickly Sida. T. L. Kirkpatrick, Graduate Assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27650. G. E. Templeton, Professor, and D. O. TeBeest, Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701; and R. J. Smith, Jr., Research Agronomist, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Stuttgart, AR 72160. Plant Dis. 66:323-325. Accepted for publication 20 June 1981. 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, 1982. DOI: 10.1094/PD-66-323.

Colletotrichum malvarum was evaluated as a bioherbicide for prickly sida control in agronomic crops. Of 38 plant species tested, only hollyhock (Althaea rosea) and prickly sida (Sida spinosa) were susceptible. In growth chamber experiments, disease symptoms on prickly sida seedlings were severe after single and multiple dew periods of 16 hr. In small field plot studies, inoculations with an aqueous suspension of 4 × 10⁶ conidia per milliliter applied at 378 L/ha killed 84–95% of the prickly sida plants after 3 wk.

Keyword(s): endemic disease, epidemiology, microbial herbicide.