Publications by authors named "Edward J Sikora"

Methyl benzimidazole carbamate (MBC) fungicides were once widely used for brown rot (Monilinia fructicola) control of peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) in the southeastern US, but their use was substantially reduced and often eliminated due to widespread resistance. In this study, 233 M.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Controlling early blight of tomatoes using endophytic bacteria is an eco-friendly and sustainable approach to manage this common fungal disease caused by , and . Endophytic bacteria are microorganisms that live inside plant tissues without causing harm and can help protect the host plant from pathogens. In this work, twenty endophytic bacterial isolates from tomato healthy plants were tested against pathogenic fungal isolates that caused early blight disease .

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sterol demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fungicides continue to be essential components for the control of brown rot of peach caused by in the United States and worldwide. In the southeastern United States, resistance to DMIs had been associated with overexpression of the cytochrome P450 14α-demethylase gene Mf as well as the genetic element Mona, a 65 bp in length nucleotide sequence located upstream of Mf in resistant isolates. About 20 years after the first survey, we reevaluated sensitivity of from South Carolina and Georgia to propiconazole and also evaluated isolates from Alabama for the first time.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Frogeye leaf spot (FLS), caused by , is an economically important disease of soybean in the United States. Data from 66 uniform fungicide trials (UFTs) conducted from 2012 to 2021 across eight states (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee) were gathered and analyzed to determine the efficacy and profitability of the following fungicides applied at the beginning pod developmental stage (R3): azoxystrobin + difenoconazole (AZOX + DIFE), difenoconazole + pydiflumetofen (DIFE + PYDI), pyraclostrobin (PYRA), pyraclostrobin + fluxapyroxad + propiconazole (PYRA + FLUX + PROP), tetraconazole (TTRA), thiophanate-methyl (TMET), thiophanate-methyl + tebuconazole (TMET + TEBU), and trifloxystrobin + prothioconazole (TFLX + PROT). A network meta-analytic model was fitted to the log of the means of FLS severity data and to the nontransformed mean yield for each treatment, including the nontreated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Frogeye leaf spot (FLS), caused by , is an important foliar disease affecting soybean in the United States. A meta-analytic approach including 39 fungicide trials conducted from 2012 to 2021 across eight states (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee) was used to assess the relationship between FLS severity and soybean yield. Correlation and regression analyses were performed separately to determine Fisher's transformation of correlation coefficients (Z), intercept (β) and slope (β).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Eight soybean genomic regions, including six never before reported, were found to be associated with resistance to soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi) in the southeastern USA. Soybean rust caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi is one of the most important foliar diseases of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

LC-MS analysis of plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium (PGPR) AP203 supernatants indicated the presence of nematode-inhibiting compounds that increased in abundance when AP203 was grown on orange peel. J2 were incubated with AP203 spores and orange peel, spores alone, orange peel alone, or with a non-inoculated control, and the combination of AP203 with orange peel resulted in 94% mortality of juveniles ( ≤ 0.05).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Soybean vein necrosis virus (SVNV), a new virus in the genus Orthotospovirus, has been found in all soybean-growing regions in the United States and Ontario, Canada. Soybean thrips, Neohydatothrips variabilis (Beach) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), tobacco thrips, Frankliniella fusca (Hinds) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), and eastern flower thrips, Frankliniella tritici (Fitch) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) are reported vectors of this virus, but there are no reports on their distribution in Alabama. A monitoring study was conducted in 2015 and 2016 to determine thrips species composition and abundance in Alabama soybean agroecosystems.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Hosts of soybean rust () are sensitive to low temperatures, limiting this obligate parasite in the United States to overwintering sites in a restricted area along the Gulf Coast. This temperature sensitivity of soybean rust hosts allowed us to study spatial spread of epidemic invasions over similar territory for seven sequential years, 2005-2011. The epidemic front expanded slowly from early April through July, with the majority of expansion occurring from August through November.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tomato plants treated with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), applied as an industrially formulated seed treatment, a spore preparation mixed with potting medium (referred to as powder), or a combined seed-powder treatment, were evaluated under field conditions for induced resistance to Tomato mottle virus (ToMoV). The PGPR strains used, based on their ability to induce resistance in previous experiments, included Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 937a, B. subtilis 937b, and B.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

During 1992, a multivirus epidemic reduced tomato production by as much as 25% in the major tomato-growing region of Alabama. Estimated yield losses of 100% resulted from the epidemic in over 250 ha in two counties of North Alabama. Cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV), alone or in combination with potato potyvirus Y (PVY) and/or tobacco etch potyvirus (TEV), was responsible for the crop failure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF