Biological control of verticillium stem striping disease on oilseed rape : fungi as friends and foes

Sammanfattning: The cultivation of oilseed rape faces challenges caused by pests and pathogens, and soil-borne pathogens such as Plasmodiaphora brassicae (clubroot) are among the main causes of disease. Verticillium longisporum is another soil-borne pathogen, which causes the verticillium stem striping disease in Brassica plants, including oilseed rape. In this project the fungal biological control agent Clonostachys rosea was used in an attempt to utilize biological control of verticillium stem striping disease in oilseed rape. The main in planta experiment was perfomed to investigate this hypothesis,but the results showed no significant effect of C. rosea to prevent verticillium stem striping disease in oilseed rape. Three in vitro experiments were also performed to study the interactions between these two fungi, C. rosea and V. longisporum, and showed that C. rosea can inhibit the growth of V. longisporum in the in vitro setting. In summary, C. rosea show some potential of being able to control V. longisporum in an in vitro setting, but none in planta.