| Verticillium wilt | |
|---|---|
 Healthy strawberry plant (left) and strawberry plant infected with verticillium wilt (right), photo by Howard F. Schwartz, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org | |
| Causal agents | |
Verticillium wilt is a wilt disease affecting over 350 species of eudicot plants. It is caused by six species of Verticillium fungi: V. dahliae, V. albo-atrum, V. longisporum, V. nubilum, V. theobromae and V. tricorpus.[1] Many economically important plants are susceptible including cotton, tomatoes, potatoes, oilseed rape, eggplants, peppers and ornamentals, as well as others in natural vegetation communities. Many eudicot species and cultivars are resistant to the disease and all monocots, gymnosperms and ferns are immune.
Signs are superficially similar to Fusarium wilts. There are no fungicides characterized for the control of this disease but soil fumigation with chloropicrin has been proven successful in dramatically reducing Verticillium wilt in diverse crops such as vegetables using plasticulture production methods, and in non-tarped potato production in North America . Additional strategies to manage the disease include crop rotation, the use of resistant varieties and deep plowing (to accelerate the decomposition of infected plant residue). In recent years, pre-plant soil fumigation with chloropicrin in non-tarped, raised beds has proven to be economically viable and beneficial for reducing wilt disease and increasing yield and quality of potato in North America. Soil fumigation is a specialized practice requiring special permits, equipment, and expertise, so qualified personnel must be employed.
- ^ Barbara, D.J.; Clewes, E. (2003). ""Plant pathogenic Verticillium species: how many of them are there?"". Molecular Plant Pathology. 4 (4). Blackwell Publishing: 297–305. doi:10.1046/j.1364-3703.2003.00172.x. PMID 20569390.