Meta-Analysis of a Web-Based Disease Forecast System for Control of Anthracnose and Botrytis Fruit Rots of Strawberry in Southeastern United States

Abstract

Strawberry production in Florida and South Carolina is affected by two major diseases, anthracnose fruit rot (AFR) and Botrytis fruit rot (BFR), caused by Colletotrichum acutatum and Botrytis cinerea, respectively. The effective management of both diseases traditionally relied on weekly fungicide applications. However, to improve timing and reduce the number of fungicide sprays, many growers follow the Strawberry Advisory System (StAS), a decision support system for forecasting fungicide applications based on environmental conditions and previously developed models. The objective of this study was to perform a meta-analysis to determine the effectiveness of the StAS for AFR and BFR management compared with a calendar-based spray program. Thirty-nine trials were conducted from 2009 to 2014 in Florida and South Carolina commercial strawberry fields. Meta-analysis was conducted to quantify the treatment effects on four effect sizes, all based on the difference in response variables for StAS and the calendar-based treatments in each trial. The mean difference in BFR incidence, AFR incidence, yield, and number of marketable fruit between the two treatments was not significantly different from 0 (P < 0.05). However, the number of fungicide applications per season was reduced by a median of seven when using the StAS, a 50% reduction in sprays compared with the calendar-based approach. Effect sizes were not influenced by location or the favorability of the environment for disease development. These findings indicate that use of StAS in commercial fields is effective in controlling fruit rot diseases with no reduction in yield while substantially reducing fungicide applications.

Development and validation of a weather-based warning system to advise fungicide applications to control dollar spot on turfgrass

“…Meta-analysis was originally developed for analysis in the social sciences and medical sciences and recently has been adopted in plant pathology to examine results from many studies in a single, yet statistically powerful, analysis [ 22 ]. For example, meta-analysis was recently used in strawberry production to test the utility of using a disease warning system for advising fungicide applications versus using a calendar-based approach in applying fungicide for various fruit rots [ 24 ]. Similar techniques could be useful in calculating the probability of success in using a disease warning system over many site-years in turfgrass.…”

Productive and qualitative characteristics of strawberry genotypes in the Plateau of the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

“…Considering that the experiment was conducted without cover, the wind and insects had free reign throughout the cycle. Regarding fruits with rot, the genotypes with the highest production of fruits in this category are possibly more susceptible to the fungi Botrytis cinerea and Colletotrichum acutatum, important causal agents of fruit rot in strawberry crops (CORDOVA et al 2017).…”

Meteorological Conditions in a Temperate Climate for Colletotrichum acutatum, Strawberry Pathogen Distribution and Susceptibility of Different Cultivars to Anthracnose

“…Disease forecasting models help predict disease risks and reduce fungicide application by 50%. The anthracnose advisory system based on the AFR model showed that it could significantly reduce the number of sprayings [23,38]. Rasiukevičiūtė et al [22] evaluated the iMETOS ® strawberry Botrytis cinerea forecasting model.…”