The efficacy of three strains of C. rosea in the control of Gray Mold (GM) in fuchsia was compared. In a greenhouse experiment conducted in Porto Alegre, RS, the incidence of GM was reduced by 40, 73, and 80% with application of strains GSAL, GFO4, and G8 in 2004, and by 83, 89 and 94%, respectively, in 2005. Other experiments were conducted in the same years in a commercial crop of fuchsia grown from cuttings in a greenhouse in Vacaria, RS. The plants were sprayed weekly, as follows, with: (1) water plus a wetting agent, 0.01% (control); (2) chlorothalonil, folpet, copper, mancozeb, iprodione, and thiram beginning at 26 days after transplanting; (3) a conidial suspension of strain GFO4 of C. rosea applied 39 times beginning at 26 days after transplanting, and (4) GF04 conidial suspensions applied 29 times beginning at 61 days after transplanting. C. rosea reduced the incidence and severity of GM to levels similar to those in the fungicide-treated plants, and did not affect photosynthesis or stomatic conductance. The number of cuttings obtained from plants treated with C. roseum and fungicides was higher than the control in 2005.
Gliocladium roseum; Botrytis cinerea; Fuchsia speciosa; biological control; fungicides
