A contaminant,Erwinia carotovora,affecting commercial plant tissue cultures

Summary Commercial plant tissue cultures of several ornamental plants exhibiting reduced vigor and chlorosis in stage II were found to contain bacterial contaminants. In most cases, visible evidence of the contaminants in the tissue-culture medium was not easily discernible. Physiological and pathological tests employing pure cultures proved 5 of the 10 isolates obtained to beErwinia carotovora, an important pathogen of many horticultural plants. The tissue cultures from whichE. carotovora was isolated were of plant types nonsusceptible under normal commercial production methods. These results indicate nonhost plants may serve as carriers ofE. carotovora during tissue-culture propagation and also possibly under normal methods of commercial production. Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations Journal Series No. 883. This investigation was supported in part by The Fred C. Gloeckner Foundation.