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Virginia Tech

Causal factors of Macrophoma rot observed on Petit Manseng grapes

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Macrophoma rot is a general term for fruit rots of Vitis spp. caused by the fungus Neofusicoccum ribis (syn. Botryosphaeria ribis) or closely related or renamed taxa, including Botryosphaeria dothidea. While mainly observed as a fruit pathogen of muscadine grape, the disease has recently been observed on bunch grapes in Virginia. Isolates (N = 835) were collected from Petit Manseng fruit clusters from seven Virginia vineyards in 2018 and 2019. A subset of these isolates was sequenced using three primer sets (ITS, RPB2, and EF). The preliminary result showed a single taxonomic strain of N. ribis. A controlled inoculation study of Petit Manseng clusters verified that infection could occur anytime between bloom and 2 weeks post-veraison; however, both the mean cluster incidence and the severity of Macrophoma rot did not differ from each other at any growth stage during the season. A season-long cluster exposure experiment showed that any amount of sun exposure significantly increased Macrophoma rot severity compared to shaded clusters, and that full sun exposure was associated with greatest rot severity. This finding contravenes current management recommendations for Macrophoma rot, and it raises yet unanswered questions as to why exposed clusters are more susceptible to Macrophoma rot than are shaded clusters. An in vitro fungicide assay study using nine fungicides identified captan, thiophanate-methyl, and tetraconazole as potential candidates for management of Macrophoma rot which need to be investigated further.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science in Life Sciences
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Horticulture
Department dc:contributor.department
Horticulture
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2020

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Encardes, Nicole A.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Wolf, Anthony K.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Baudoin, Antonius B.
  • Nita, Mizuho

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:25031
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/99083

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Encardes, Nicole A.. Causal factors of Macrophoma rot observed on Petit Manseng grapes. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/99083