Physical characteristics of soil-biodegradable and nonbiodegradable plastic mulches impact conidial splash dispersal of Botrytis cinerea

Xuechun Wang; Chakradhar Mattupalli; Gary Chastagner; Lydia Tymon; Zixuan Wu; Sunghwan Jung; Hang Liu; Lisa Wasko DeVetter

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0285094

Physical characteristics of soil-biodegradable and nonbiodegradable plastic mulches impact conidial splash dispersal of Botrytis cinerea

PLoS One. 2023 May 8;18(5):e0285094. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285094. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xuechun Wang¹, Chakradhar Mattupalli², Gary Chastagner³, Lydia Tymon³, Zixuan Wu⁴, Sunghwan Jung⁴, Hang Liu⁵, Lisa Wasko DeVetter¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Horticulture, Washington State University, Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center, Mount Vernon, Washington, United States of America.
² Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center, Mount Vernon, Washington, United States of America.
³ Department of Plant Pathology, Washington State University, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Puyallup, Washington, United States of America.
⁴ Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America.
⁵ Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, United States of America.

Abstract

Botrytis cinerea causes gray mold disease of strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa) and is a globally important pathogen that causes fruit rot both in the field and after harvest. Commercial strawberry production involves the use of plastic mulches made from non-degradable polyethylene (PE), with weedmat made from woven PE and soil-biodegradable plastic mulch (BDM) as emerging mulch technologies that may enhance sustainable production. Little is known regarding how these plastic mulches impact splash dispersal of B. cinerea conidia. The objective of this study was to investigate splash dispersal dynamics of B. cinerea when exposed to various plastic mulch surfaces. Mulch surface physical characteristics and conidial splash dispersal patterns were evaluated for the three mulches. Micrographs revealed different surface characteristics that have the potential to influence splash dispersal: PE had a flat, smooth surface, whereas weedmat had large ridges and BDM had an embossed surface. Both PE mulch and BDM were impermeable to water whereas weedmat was semi-permeable. Results generated using an enclosed rain simulator system showed that as the horizontal distance from the inoculum source increased, the number of splash dispersed B. cinerea conidia captured per plate decreased for all mulch treatments. More than 50% and approximately 80% of the total number of dispersed conidia were found on plates 10 and 16 cm away from the inoculum source across all treatments, respectively. A significant correlation between the total and germinated conidia on plates across all mulch treatments was detected (P<0.01). Irrespective of distance from the inoculum source, embossed BDM facilitated higher total and germinated splashed conidia (P<0.001) compared to PE mulch and weedmat (P = 0.43 and P = 0.23, respectively), indicating BDM's or embossed film's potential for enhancing B. cinerea inoculum availability in strawberry production under plasticulture. However, differences in conidial concentrations observed among treatments were low and may not be pathologically relevant.

Copyright: © 2023 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Biodegradable Plastics*
Botrytis
Fragaria*
Polyethylene
Soil
Soil Microbiology
Spores, Fungal

Substances

Soil
Biodegradable Plastics
Polyethylene

Supplementary concepts

Botrytis cinerea

Grants and funding

This project was funded by the Washington State Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant program (#K2863). Additional funding was provided by the Specialty Crops Research Initiative Award 2022-51181-38325 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Corresponding author, L.W.D., received the awards. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.