The occurrence of the bacterial blight, caused by Pseudomonas cichorii, was observed in two commercial tomato fields in the State of São Paulo in 2005. In view of this, studies were carried out in order to determine the host range of Pseudomonas cichorii isolates (IBSBF 2309 and IBSBF 2323), obtained from tomato plants at commercial fields located in the cities of Bragança Paulista and Mogi Guaçú, SP, Brazil. Caserta pumpkin, lettuce, purslane, eggplant, beet, broccoli, carrot, Jimson weed, sunflower, tobacco, scarlet eggplant, melon, cucumber, petunia, green pepper, radish, cabbage, arugula, parsley, and tomato plants were spray-inoculated separately with two isolates of P. cichorii obtained from tomato and one from sunflower (GIR-1). The isolates IBSBF 2309 and IBSBF 2323 were pathogenic to purslane, Jimson weed, sunflower, green pepper, and tomato; GIR-1 was only pathogenic to purslane, Jimson weed, and sunflower, but not pathogenic to green pepper or tomato. In Brazil, no sources of resistance to this bacterium are known within the Lycopersicon genus. The reaction of tomato cultivars to the bacterium is also unknown. Twenty-eight tomato genotypes from the Sakata Seed Sudamerica Ltda. Germplasm Bank were evaluated for their reaction to P. cichorii isolates IBSBF 2309 and IBSBF 2323, using the leaf inoculation method. The highest resistance levels were observed in tomato genotypes AF 11768, AF 2521, AF 11766, AF 11772, AF 229, AF 5719-1, and AF 8162. The genotype AF 5719-1, wich has the Pto gene imparting resistance to P. syringae pv. tomato, showed a good level of resistance to P. cichorii. The identification of genotypes with good levels of resistance to this pathogen is important, since they represent potential resources to be used in tomato breeding programs for incorporation of resistance genes against P. cichorii.
Solanum lycopersicum L.; resistence; bacterial blight
