A Rapid Technique for Determination of Races of Phytophthora nicotianae on Tobacco.

A laboratory technique for determining races of Phytophthora nicotianae on tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) was developed and compared with a commonly used greenhouse method. The laboratory technique was based on production and inoculation of tobacco seedlings in tissue culture plates. Three P. nicotianae isolates from North Carolina previously determined as race 0 and 1 were used. Four tobacco cultivars and two breeding lines with different types of resistance were used as differential cultivars: K-326, K-346, NC-71, NC-1071, L8, and Ky14xL8. Plants were evaluated 7 and 14 days after inoculation. Five differential cultivars (K-326, K-346, NC-1071, NC-71, and L8) were determined to be sufficient to differentiate races 0 and 1. Cv. Ky14xL8 was ineffective for differentiation of races and produced inconsistent results. The laboratory technique was as effective as the greenhouse technique for distinguishing different races of P. nicotianae for every isolate in all experiments. Additionally, the most reliable results for both methods were obtained when evaluations were made 14 days after inoculation. The laboratory technique was validated with 21 isolates collected from four counties in North Carolina. The laboratory technique produced results 2 weeks faster than the greenhouse technique and required significantly less space and labor than the greenhouse technique for the same number of isolates. Additionally, the larger number of seedlings used in the laboratory technique increased the robustness of the results, especially for isolates for which race identification was unclear with the greenhouse technique. We propose that the laboratory technique has the potential for evaluation of tobacco resistance in other pathosystems as well.