Determination and Identification of Olive Knot Disease (Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi) in Aydın Province

Olive knot disease caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi pv. savastanoi cause important losses on olive trees. One hundred and eighty nine branch samples were collected from eight districts of Aydın Province (Söke, Koçarlı, Çine, Nazilli, Karacasu, Bozdoğan, Buharkent, Kuyucak) in 2006 and 2007. It was mainly used growth PVF1 and King’s B mediums, levan production on NSA, growth at 37°C, oxsidase, aesculin hydrolisis, pectolytic activity, arginine dihidrolase, gelatin hydrolisis, hypersensitive reaction on tobacco, nitrat reduction, urease activity, using of erythritol, mannitol, sorbitol and sucrose, D- arabinose, nitrate reduction, production of IAA, egg yolk test on isolation and determination of the pathogen. In the molecular identification of the pathogen, iaal and hrc gene regions were amplified by PCR. Pathogenicity tests were performed on shoots of olive and oleander seedlings and all of the P. s. pv. savastanoi isolates were able to produce galls on the olive plants. Eighty five isolates were identi-fied as P. s. pv. savastanoi by biochemical, physiological and PCR tests and presence rate of pathogen was determined as 44.9% on the collected samples from Aydin province