A comparative study of the pathogenicity and epidemiology of strains of <em>Pseudomonas syringae</em> pv. <em>tabaci</em> that cause wildfire and angular leaf spot diseases of tobacco in Zimbabwe.

The population dynamics of two strains of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci that cause the foliar spot diseases of tobacco known as wildfire (WF) and angular leaf spot (ALS) were significantly different in leaves of a susceptible tobacco cultivar. After 48 h the population of WF strains changed abruptly from exponential growth to stationary phase, whereas there was a more gradual transition by the ALS strains. This resulted in smaller stationary-phase populations for WF than for ALS. The decline of the WF population started soon after the stationary phase was reached, whereas the ALS stationary phase was relatively stable. The strains reacted differently to climatic factors. On plants inoculated and exposed to the weather at weekly intervals, WF lesions grew faster when vapour pressure deficits, maximum temperatures and radiation were low. Multiple regression analysis showed that over 70% of the variation in WF infection was accounted for by variation in VPD, radiation and mean temperature. Variation in ALS infection was less easily explained in relation to the weather variables measured. Plant age and stalk position had a differential effect on the pathogenicity of the two strains. Lower leaves of young plants (42 days) were most susceptible to WF and top leaves of older plants (84 days) were most susceptible to angular leaf spot. Differences in pathogenicity and occurrence in the field suggest that pathovar status should be considered for the ALS pathogen of tobacco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]