Different products for biological control of Botrytis cinerea examined on wounded stem tissue of tomato plants.

For the moment the agents that are used against Botrytis cinerea, in glasshouses were tomatoes are cultivated, are from chemical origin. For reducing the use of chemical agents in the future it is important to search for effective biological control agents against the fight of Botrytis cinerae. The following biological products Vital pasta, Vital gel and Elot-Vis were examined in there possibility to control Botrytis cinerea. Elot Vis was tested out in experiments that were carried out in climate chambers were leafs of 3 week old tomato plants were artificially infected with Botrytis cinerea spores. Also the biological products of Vital were first investigated in experiments that were carried out in climate chambers. In stead off leafs of tomato plants it were stem wounds of tomato plants who were treated with the pasta or the gel that was spread over the wounded surface after this has been inoculated with a suspension of conidia of Botrytis cinerae. The results of these first tests that were executed in the climate chambers were the circumstances for Botrytis cinerea were ideal seemed promising. In the next step these products were tested out on large scale in glasshouses. For each plant 5 wounds were created by removing the leafs, these wounds were or first treated with the Biological product and thereafter artificially infected with Botrytis cinerea spores to check out if these products can be used as a preventive agent or the wounds were first inoculated with a suspension of Botrytis cinerea spores and thereafter treated with the product. For the product Elot-Vis a few plants were totally sprayed with an Elot-Vis suspension before leafs were removed and the wounds were inoculated with conidia of Botrytis cinerea to check out if this product was able to activated the induced systemic resistance pathway. The experiments that were executed in glasshouses showed different percentages of succeeded Botrytis cinerea infections. This is probable due to the different weather conditions during both days that the experiments were executed. For the wounds that were treated with pasta it was difficult to distinguish wounds were Botrytis cinerea succeeded to infect the plant, because these wounds frequently didn't show any sign of infection on the surface but when the wounds with the pasta were cut open it was possible to see Botrytis cinerea infections inside the stem.