© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Abstracts - 16th Hellenic Phytopathological Congress
59
O
RAL
& P
OSTER
P
RESENTATIONS
Study the effectiveness of different natural compounds for the protection
of pomegranate trees from spring frost
P. D
ROGOUDI
, A. D
ELLA
and G. P
ANTELIDIS
Pomology Institute, National Agricultural Research Foundation, Hellenic
Agricultural Organization “Demeter”, 38 R.R. Station, GR-590 35 Naoussa, Greece
Spring frosts can cause serious damage to
pomegranate orchards, and thiswas the case
in many areas of Northern Greece during
2011. During spring the sensitivity of trees
to frost increases and this has been found to
be proportional to decreased levels of sug-
ars and the osmotic potential of cell sap. The
aim of the present study was to assess the
effectiveness of the external application of
molasses, glycine-betaine, ethylene glycol,
glycerine, sucrose and glucose on conferring
frost resistance in pomegranate. Pomegran-
ate trees were sprayed with solutions of the
above compounds in the field 8 and 3 days
before assessments were made of their frost
sensitivity using controlled freezing tests.
Frost damage was assessed using the elec-
trolyte leakage test, tetrazolium stain tests in
pith and cortex, and visual assessment of inju-
ry. The results showed that molasses spray ap-
plication provided protection as indicated by
all test methods used to reveal frost damage.
Glucose application protected from low tem-
peratures in all methods apart from the visu-
al rating assessment. Finally, glycine-betaine,
ethylene glycol and sucrose application con-
ferred a lesser degree of protection that was
only detectable by tetrazolium tests.
Phytochemicals with nematicidal activity in IPM programs for the control
of rootknot nematodes
Meloidogyne
spp.
N.G. N
TALLI
1
and
U. M
ENKISSOGLU
-S
PIROUDI
2
Pesticide Science Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail:
;
2
rmenkis@
auth.gr
Amongst all agricultural pests affecting
crops, root-knot nematodes (RKN;
Meloido-
gyne
spp.) represent possibly the most dam-
aging worldwide, with a wide host range, a
short generation period, a high reproduc-
tive rate, and with the ability to form disease
complexes with other soil borne pathogens
like fungi. In the past phyto-nematode con-
trol has been mainly based on chemical
nematicides, but recently many synthetic
nematicides have been banned or are un-
der evaluation (Regulation 2009/1107/EU
& 2009/128/EU), due to environmental and
health concerns. Additionally, the economic
cost of research and registration to develop
new nematicides is not easily sustained by
the industry. There is therefore, a great need
for novel nematicides, that are environmen-
tally safer than the synthetic derivatives cur-
rently available. An interesting way to search
for biorational nematicides is to screen nat-
urally occurring compounds in plants. Plant
derived pesticidesmay find favour in organic
food production because many are environ-
mentally friendly, pose less risk to humans
and animals, have a selective mode of ac-
tion, avoid the emergence of resistant races
of pest species, and as a result can be safely
used in Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
programmes. However, botanical nemati-
cides have yet to form the focus of research,
unlike insecticides and pesticides. This is a
review of our recent studies on
Meloidogy-
ne
spp. control using natural substances of
plant origin. We report on the most potent
nematicidal botanical extracts, as well as on
