Two fully replicated trials were conducted with glasshouse-grown tomatoes, under conditions similar to commercial production, to define the impact of Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV). PepMV was not found to reduce bulk yields in these trials, but the quality of tomato fruits harvested was reduced significantly. Compared with uninoculated, PepMV-free control plants, 6·5% of fruits of PepMV-affected cv. Espero were downgraded from class 1 in trial 1. In trial 2, an average 38% of class 1 fruits from PepMV-affected cvs Espero and Encore were lost as a result of downgrading. Loss of quality was mainly a result of blotchy ripening, gold marbling, gold spot, and symptoms directly attributed to PepMV infection. PepMV infection also affected fruit size. The results are discussed in relation to the demands of multiple retailers in the UK for class 1 tomatoes only.

A total of 1754 aspen trees were examined on 47 sample plots located in even-aged stands considered representative of the study area. Decay was found in the merchantable portions of the trunks of 1212 or 69% of these trees. Three types of heart rot were encountered, viz., a white spongy trunk or butt rot and a yellow stringy trunk rot associated respectively with Fomes igniarius var. populinus (Neu.) Campb., and Radulum casearium (Morgan) Lloyd; and stringy butt rots from which several fungi, notably Pholiota spectabilis Fr. and Armillaria mellea (Vahl ex Fr.) Quél., were isolated. Two heartwood stains, one brown and the other mottled red, were present in many of the aspen trees examined. Corticium polygonium Pers. and two members of the Fungi Imperfecti, Libertella sp. and Phialophora alba van Beyma, were consistently isolated from these stains and from incipient decays. Fructifications of F. igniarius were the most reliable external indication of heart rot in this species. A pronounced relationship existed between age and decay. Older stands as a rule contained higher proportions of decayed heartwood than young stands. A less pronounced relationship was found to exist between soil conditions and decay; trees occurring on drier sites were somewhat more decadent than those growing on moist sites. The possible reasons why the decay process in the heartwood of living aspen is one in which certain fungi, mainly Fungi Imperfecti, colonize and stain the wood prior to its invasion and destruction by the Basidiomycetes associated with advanced decay are discussed.

Parsons (2002) The effect of split-root salinity stress on tomato leaf expansion, fruit yield and quality

No abstract

Some of the progressive changes in decay in maple trees were studied by comparing total activity of the decay community (as measured by carbon dioxide output of excised samples), water content, pH, and predominant microorganisms (as shown by isolation on malt agar) in zones selected across the pocket of decay.Four trees from which Fomes igniarius were isolated gave consistent results with alkaline pH, high moisture content, and a predominance of imperfect fungi in the zones of incipient decay. Surprisingly, these zones showed the highest rates of carbon dioxide output, though they were only slightly higher than those of the transition zones. The center, severely decayed, parts of the trees were slightly acid, appreciably drier, and contained F. igniarius in abundance. They showed only about half the rate of carbon dioxide production of the outer zones. A section of rot caused by Polyporus glomeratus corresponded in most respects to those with F. igniarius.In samples of two regions from which no basidiomycete decay fungus was isolated, the pattern was completely different. In these the pH was consistently alkaline all across the pocket, exceeding pH 9 in one central area, and was highest in the central zone. The moisture content of these two trees was very high, being highest in the central zones, and the carbon dioxide production was much higher than that of the F. igniarius decays.