Control of Fungal Diseases of Greenhouse Tomato Under Long-Wave Infrared-Absorbing Plastic Film. Demetrios J. Vakalounakis, Plant Protection Institute, P.O. Box 1802, 711 10 Heraklio, Crete, Greece. . Plant Dis. 76:43-46. Accepted for publication 23 April 1991. Copyright 1992 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-76-0043.

Two tomato cultivars, Earlypak No. 7 and Dombo, were grown during the 1986–1987 and 1988–1989 crop seasons in a greenhouse covered with a long-wave infrared absorbing (IRA)-vinyl film (4-mil thick with a lower limit of transmission at 385 nm and light transmittance in the visible region, approximately 85%) and in a control greenhouse covered with a common agricultural (CA)-polyethylene film (6.3-mil thick with a lower limit of transmission at 340 nm and light transmittance in the visible region, approximately 85%). Transmittances in the region from 7,000 to 14,000 nm (where IR emission by soil and plants during the night takes place) in the IRA- and CA-plastic film-covered greenhouses were approximately 7.3 and 50.9%, respectively. At the end of the crop seasons, total disease index for all three diseases (early blight, caused by Alternaria solani; leaf mold, caused by Cladosporium fulvum; and gray mold, caused by Botrytis cinerea) on both cultivars was much less in the IRA-vinyl greenhouse (40–50%) than in the CA-vinyl greenhouse. In the IRA-vinyl greenhouse, the first harvest of mature fruits from both cultivars was made about 60–70 days earlier and plant growth (height, stem diameter, inflorescence number, infructescence number, and fruit production) was better than in the CA-vinyl greenhouse.