Relationship of Verticillium Wilt with Pink-Eye of Potato in Maine. R. W. Goth, Research Pathologist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Plant Sciences Institute, Vegetable Laboratory, Beltsville, MD 20705. K. G. Haynes, and D. R. Wilson. Research Geneticist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Plant Sciences Institute, Vegetable Laboratory, Beltsville, MD 20705; and Horticulturist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Plant Sciences Institute, Vegetable Laboratory, Presque Isle, ME 04769. Plant Dis. 77:402-405. Accepted for publication 2 December 1992. 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, 1993. DOI: 10.1094/PD-77-0402.

In 1988 and 1989, the effect of Verticillium wilt on the incidence and severity of pink-eye of potato was studied. Six cultivars and 12 advanced breeding lines (clones) of Solanum tuberosum with varying degrees of resistance to Verticillium wilt were selected. Entries were inoculated with either Verticillium albo-atrum, V. dahliae, or a combination of both species; the control was noninoculated. Significant differences in the severity of Verticillium wilt symptoms were found for different clones and pathogens, and there was a significant year-by-clone interaction. Verticillium wilt symptoms were more severe in 1989 than in 1988. Pink-eye-infected tubers were found in all treatments, and the clones differed significantly in both incidence and severity of the disease. Significant positive correlations were found between the severity of Verticillium wilt with V. albo-atrum or the combination of species, and the incidence or severity of pink-eye. The incidence of pink-eye was enhanced by the presence of Verticillium, but the presence of Verticillium was not necessary for pink-eye to develop.

Keyword(s): potato early dying.