Evaluation of acibenzolarsmethyl for induction of resistance in camellia flowers to <i>Ciborinia camelliae</i> infection

Abstract

The synthetic plant defence elicitor acibenzolarSmethyl (CGA245704 50WG Syngenta Crop Protection) was applied to Camellia japonica bushes to induce systemic acquired resistance for protection of flowers against ascospore infection by Ciborinia camelliae Bushes were sprayed weekly at 500 mg/litre either before flowering during flowering or both before and during flowering All untreated and treated flowers became infected with camellia blight to the same degree and produced similar numbers of sclerotia averaging 34 sclerotia/flower Thus acibenzolarSmethyl was not effective in reducing the incidence of camellia flower blight