Evaluation of trunk susceptibility of seven Populus spp. Clones to Septoria musiva in Tunuyán-Mendoza, Argentina

RIU, N.; LUCERO, G.; ROBLEDO, A.; PIZZUOLO, P.; HAPON, M.V.; BOITEUX J.J.

Dehradun

Simposio; International Poplar Commission 24 th Session; 2012

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE)

In the province of Mendoza, Argentina, forestry is based mainly on poplar cultivation. Only a few clones are cultivated and have been chosen on the basis of their behavior and productivity. Until now, nobody has considered their susceptibility to Septoria musiva, causal agent of the poplar canker, the main disease of poplar in Mendoza. These clones are: P. deltoides ´Harvard´, ´Calfish 2´, P. x canadensis ´Guardi´ and ´Conti 12´. In poplar orchards Conti 12 as well as in those of deltoides clones have shown a reduced susceptibility to S. musiva attacks.The aim of the present study was to evaluate the trunk susceptibility of different poplar clones to S. musiva in the field under natural infections. During 2010, we evaluated seven poplar clones of a 9-year old Populetum, located in Tunuyán (33° 64 ´51´´ south latitude and 69° 06´ 73´´ West Longitude). Susceptibility was determined by the presence of trunk cankers produced by S. musiva. Statistical analysis of data showed that there is an association between clones and presence of cankers and they could be clustered in four susceptibility levels. The most susceptible clone (level 3) Populus x canadensis ´Neva´, an intermediate susceptibility (level 2) was Populus x canadensis clones ´NNDV´ and P x canescens ´Hybrid Spanish´, and level 1 clones P. x canadensis `Conti 12 ´and` Boccalari´ and less susceptible (level 0) were Populus deltoides ´INTA 67/67´ and P. deltoides ´562-11´.These results are in agreement with previous studies of our group, except for clone ´Boccalari´ that had previously shown high disease susceptibility. It should be noted that clone P. deltoides ´562-11´, that shows a low susceptibility to poplar canker according to this study, have presented a very good performance in wooden production in studies carried out by the Forestry Institute of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, UNCuyo. Less promissory was the clone ´NEVA´ which in the Forest Institute studies presented a low wooden production, and in our study shows high susceptibility to poplar canker.