Interested Members of the University Community are invited to attend the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Master of Science of Tina Simonton of the Department of Plant Agriculture 

Date: March 23, 2020
Time: 9 AM  

Delivered via Skype Business 

Please contact me at simontot@uoguelph.ca if you wish to be added to the contact list for the Skype conference.

Thesis Title: Integrated management of bacterial spot (Xanthomonas gardneri) of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) in Southwestern Ontario 

Advisory Committee
Dr. Darren Robinson, Advisor
Dr. Cheryl Trueman
Dr. Katerina Jordan
Chris Gillard

Examination Committee
Dr. David Hooker, Chair
Dr. Darren Robinson
Dr. Art Schaafsma
Chris Gillard

ABSTRACT 

Xanthomonas gardneri is the dominant bacterial spot pathogen affecting tomato production in Southwestern Ontario. There are no effective chemical controls for bacterial spot, so the potential for sanitation and host resistance management was investigated. Pathogen transmission in plug trailers and transplanters were evaluated to gauge the potential impact of sanitation procedures, and differences in foliar and fruit symptoms of nine commercial cultivars were assessed to gauge existing host resistance. The pathogen moved 122 cm within the trailer, less when plug trays were dipped in water instead of irrigated. The transplanter transmitted the pathogen seedling to seedling but was not as impactful as the environment in field trials. Foliar symptoms were not found to predict those of fruit in cultivar trials, and there was no correlation between the measurements taken. Sanitation of the trailer and dip watering are recommended, as is inclusion of fruit symptom observations to select resistant cultivars.