太陽光利用型植物工場における温湿度がトマト灰色かび病の発生におよぼす影響

抄録

Gray mold (Botrytis cinerea) is a serious fungal disease of greenhouse-grown tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants that is difficult to control once established. Gray mold infestations are more likely to occur under relatively cool and humid conditions, and spores only develop under very humid conditions, which are experienced from autumn to early summer in tomato greenhouses in Japan. In this study, we investigated whether the duration of the leaf wetness period and the relative humidity affected the incidence of gray mold in tomato plants from June 2015 to June 2016. We found that the number of tomato plants with gray mold was positively correlated with the continuous time (h) per day that the leaves exhibited surface wetness and that the relative humidity was >90% at the 4th day prior to performing the gray mold survey. These findings suggest that the development of gray mold disease on tomato leaves could be inhibited by maintaining the relative humidity at <90% throughout the year.