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Published on: March 11, 2020
Advanced Copper Composites Against Copper-Tolerant Xanthomonas perforans and Tomato Bacterial Spot
A Strayer-Scherer1, Y Y Liao1, M Young1
1First, second, and ninth authors: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611; third author: NanoScience Technology Center and Burnett School of Biomedical Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando 32826; fourth, seventh, and eighth authors: North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Quincy 32351; fifth author: Department of Plant Pathology, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Wimauma 33598; sixth author: NanoScience Technology Center, Department of Chemistry, Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando; and tenth author: Department of Plant Pathology and North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Quincy.
Abstract:
Bacterial spot, caused by Xanthomonas spp., is a widespread and damaging bacterial disease of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). For disease management, growers rely on copper bactericides, which are often ineffective due to the presence of copper-tolerant Xanthomonas strains. This study evaluated the antibacterial activity of the new copper composites core-shell copper (CS-Cu), multivalent copper (MV-Cu), and fixed quaternary ammonium copper (FQ-Cu) as potential alternatives to commercially available micron-sized copper bactericides for controlling copper-tolerant Xanthomonas perforans. In vitro, metallic copper from CS-Cu and FQ-Cu at 100 μg/ml killed the copper-tolerant X. perforans strain within 1 h of exposure. In contrast, none of the micron-sized copper rates (100 to 1,000 μg/ml) from Kocide 3000 significantly reduced copper-tolerant X. perforans populations after 48 h of exposure compared with the water control (P < 0.05). All copper-based treatments killed the copper-sensitive X. perforans strain within 1 h. Greenhouse studies demonstrated that all copper composites significantly reduced bacterial spot disease severity when compared with copper-mancozeb and water controls (P < 0.05). Although there was no significant impact on yield, copper composites significantly reduced disease severity when compared with water controls, using 80% less metallic copper in comparison with copper-mancozeb in field studies (P < 0.05). This study highlights the discovery that copper composites have the potential to manage copper-tolerant X. perforans and tomato bacterial spot.
