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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2000, p. 2996-3003, Vol. 66, No. 7
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

A New Method To Monitor Airborne Inoculum of the Fungal Plant Pathogens Mycosphaerella brassicicola and Botrytis cinerea

R. Kennedy,* A. J. Wakeham, K. G. Byrne, U. M. Meyer,dagger and F. M. DeweyDagger

Department of Plant Pathology, Horticulture Research International, Wellesbourne, Warwick, Warwickshire CV35 9EF, United Kingdom

Received 21 December 1999/Accepted 21 March 2000

We describe a new microtiter immunospore trapping device (MTIST device) that uses a suction system to directly trap air particulates by impaction in microtiter wells. This device can be used for rapid detection and immunoquantification of ascospores of Mycosphaerella brassicicola and conidia of Botrytis cinerea by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) under controlled environmental conditions. For ascospores of M. brassicicola correlation coefficients (r2) of 0.943 and 0.9514 were observed for the number of MTIST device-impacted ascospores per microtiter well and the absorbance values determined by ELISA, respectively. These values were not affected when a mixed fungal spore population was used. There was a relationship between the number of MTIST device-trapped ascospores of M. brassicicola per liter of air sampled and the amount of disease expressed on exposed plants of Brassica oleracea (Brussels sprouts). Similarly, when the MTIST device was used to trap conidia of B. cinerea, a correlation coefficient of 0.8797 was obtained for the absorbance values generated by the ELISA and the observed number of conidia per microtiter well. The relative collection efficiency of the MTIST device in controlled plant growth chambers with limited airflow was 1.7 times greater than the relative collection efficiency of a Burkard 7-day volumetric spore trap for collection of M. brassicicola ascospores. The MTIST device can be used to rapidly differentiate, determine, and accurately quantify target organisms in a microflora. The MTIST device is a portable, robust, inexpensive system that can be used to perform multiple tests in a single sampling period, and it should be useful for monitoring airborne particulates and microorganisms in a range of environments.


* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Horticulture Research International, Wellesbourne, Warwick, Warwickshire CV35 9EF, United Kingdom. Phone: 44(0)1789 470382. Fax: 44(0)1789 470552. E-mail: roy.kennedy{at}hri.ac.uk.

dagger Present address: Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Oregon State University, Hood River, OR 97031.

Dagger Present address: Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3RB, United Kingdom.


Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2000, p. 2996-3003, Vol. 66, No. 7
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.