Inoculum prevalence, host infection and biological control of Colletotrichum acutatum:: causal agent of blueberry anthracnose in British Columbia

To identify the causal organism of anthracnose (ripe-rot), which reduces yield and postharvest quality of blueberries grown in British Columbia, Canada, 80 isolates were recovered from diseased fruits collected from commercial blueberry fields during 2002-04 and identified as Colletotrichum acutatum using colony morphology, growth rate and species-specific PCR primers. In vitro incubation of replicated sets of inoculated detached berries at various temperatures produced infection at temperatures of 7-30 degrees C, with an optimum at 20 degrees C. Colletotrichum acutatum could not survive on the soil surface as mummified berries but the pathogen was detected mostly within flower buds and less so in blueberry twigs and fruit trusses. Infection of developing flower buds in May-June of the preceding growing season gave the highest inoculum recovery in the following year. Two commercial fungal biocontrol agents, Prestop (Gliocladium catenulatum) and PlantShield (Trichoderma harzianum), each reduced anthracnose development in 2003 and 2004 by up to 45% when sprayed three times onto plants between flowering and fruit ripening.