EVALUATION OF OOSPORE HYPERPARASITES FOR THE CONTROL OF PHYTOPHTHORA CROWN ROT OF PEPPER

Nine isolates of known oospore mycoparasites comprised of six actinomycetes (Actinoplanes missouriensis, A. philippinensis, A. utahensis, Amorphosporangium auranticolor, Ampullariella regularis, Spirillospora albida) and three fungi (Acremonium sp., Humicola fuscoatra, Verticillium chlamydosporium) were tested in the greenhouse for their ability to suppress or delay the onset of crown rot of pepper caused by Phytophthora capsici. Verticillium chlamydosporium applied as a root dip increased the number of healthy plants by more than 100% when peppers were transplanted into soil artificially infested with oospores of Phytophthora capsici, but not when peppers were transplanted into soil naturally infested with P. capsici. The other mycoparasites were ineffective in the greenhouse. All the mycoparasites tested parasitized oospores of P. capsici in vitro.