Reaction of the native Greek tomato varieties ‘Chondrokatsari Messinias’ and ‘Katsari Santorinis’ to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and Rhizoctonia solani infection

Plants have to cope with a number of biotic stresses among which, infectious diseases. The present study was conducted to investigate the reaction of two native Greek tomato vars, ‘Chondrokatsari Messinias’ and ‘Katsari Santorinis’, to infection by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and Rhizoctonia solani. Disease symptoms, disease incidence and severity were recorded and the effects of infection on the number of flowers, the biomass production (fresh and dry weight), CO₂ assimilation, stomatal conductance and transpiration were also evaluated. Both tomato varieties were susceptible to F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and R. solani infection. However, ‘Chondrokatsari Messinias’ was found to be less susceptible to F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici compared to ‘Katsari Santorinis’. Both pathogens negatively affected biomass production of var. ‘Chondrokatsari Messinias’ but not that of ‘Katsari Santorinis’. The number of fl owers produced by ‘Chondrokatsari Messinias’ was negatively affected by R. solani but not by F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici. Infection of both varieties by R. solani also caused reduction in the CO₂ assimilation, stomatal conductance and transpiration.