Disease control by means of induced resistance.

Abstract

The biological control of fungal diseases in agriculture and horticulture based on induced resistance can become an attractive alternative to traditional fungicides. The principle is that all plants have genetic information about resistance mechanisms against pathogens such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria. The purpose of our research is to activate these resistance factors that are latent present in the plant, by treating the plants with abiotic and biotic agents (elicitors) to activate defence responses. The resistance inducing products used in the experiments are based on non-pathogenic rhizobacteria, and metabolites of micro-organisms and plants. In our experiments the different products and organisms were tested against powdery mildew on tomato. Good results are obtained with Milsana, Elexa and Serenade, especially Milsana showed a strong reduction of the disease symptoms of O. lycopersicum. These products could contribute to an environmentally more acceptable crop protection and suits in the aim to durable production techniques in agriculture and horticulture.