DISEMINACIÓN DE LA "BACTERIOSIS DEL PALMITO" DE PEJIBAYE (Bactris gasipaes kunth).

This research was carried out to establish how the infection by palm heart bacteriosis occurs in the field, during the years 2004 and 2005 at Los Diamantes experimental station in Guápiles, Costa Rica, with the aim to establish how the infection takes place in this disease in the field. The literature indicates that the bacteria Pantoea stewartii in association with the fungus Fusarium sp. are the pathogenic agents of the disease known as "bacteriosis of the pejibaye palm heart". Three inoculation experiments were carried out on 4-mo old plants of two varieties and the behavior of the disease observed in the field. Inoculation consisted of sprays on the foliage and injection into the leaf sheets, with and without wounds. For inoculation, extracts of macerations of diseased leaves, soil from diseased plantations, and suspensions of bacteria and fungus cultivated in the laboratory were used. Both varieties, inoculated artificially, were equally susceptible. Under field conditions, Diamantes-10 was far less susceptible to the disease because is less attractive to the vector (Metamasius hemipterus). The inoculation with leaf macerate sprayed over the foliage was the most effective (up to 100%); injection into the leaf sheet was also effective (up to 56.2%). Plants infected, transplanted to full sun and well drained soil, with Metamasius hemipterus absent, recovered completely from the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]