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An outbreak of crown gall disease on rose caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens in Turkey

Y. Aysan1* and F. Sahin2,3

1 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Cukurova University, 01330 Balcali, Adana, Turkey.
2 Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Ataturk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey.
3 Biotechnology Research and Application Center, Ataturk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey.

*aysanys@mail.cu.edu.tr

Accepted for publication 05/03/03

Cultivars of roses (Rosa spp.) are grown in greenhouses in Mediterranean region of Turkey from November to June for local and international markets. During March and June of 2002, nearly 40% of rose plants in six different greenhouses in the provinces of Mersin and Adana were observed with crown gall symptoms on various parts, particularly in the crown (Fig 1).


Figure 1. Characteristic symptoms
of crown gall on rose.


Figure 2. Crown gall of Agrobacterium tumefaciens
on tomato (cv. H-2274) seedling inoculated.

A non-fluorescent gram-negative bacterium was consistently isolated from diseased tissues onto King’s B medium (King et al., 1954). Twenty-five representative strains isolated were aerobic, non-sporing, non-pigmented, motile, rod-shaped, oxidase negative and catalase positive. Fatty acid analysis identified the strains as Agrobacterium tumefaciens Smith & Townsend with similarity indices ranging from 72 to 91% (Bouzar et al., 1993). Pathogenicity of the strains was confirmed on five week-old tomato plants (cv. H-2274) with needle inoculation of bacterial suspensions containing 108 CFU/ml in 0.85% saline (Fig 2). Inoculated and control (saline injected) plants were maintained in the growth chamber for 8 days at 25 ° C and 70% RH. Gall symptoms similar to those observed in the greenhouses developed on the inoculated plants within 5-7 days. No symptoms developed on control plants. The bacterium was reisolated from inoculated plants and identified as A. tumefaciens. This is the first report of the occurrence and outbreak of a crown gall disease caused by this bacterium on rose cultivars grown in Turkey.

References

Bouzar, H, Jones, JB, Hodge, NC, 1993. Differential characterization of Agrobacterium species using carbon-source utilization patterns and fatty acid profiles. Phytopathology 83, 733-739.

King, EO, Ward, MK, Raney, DE, 1954. Two simple media for the demonstration of pyocyanin and fluorescin. Journal of Laboratory Clinical Medicine 44, 301-307.

The British Society for Plant Pathology