Effectiveness of fumigants and grafting against tomato brown root rot caused byColletotrichum coccodes

In an attempt to find effective control measures against Colletotrichum coccodes , an emerging pathogen causing root rot on tomato in northern Italy, four experimental trials were carried out during the years 2005 and 2006 in Piedmont and Liguria in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the combination of different rootstocks (Beaufort F1, He Man F1, Maxifort) with various fumigants. In the presence of medium to high disease incidence, the best results were obtained by combining the use of a resistant tomato rootstock with soil fumigation with dimethyl disulfide at 40 or 80 gm −2 or metham sodium at 192 g m −2 . Chloropicrin, applied at 20 g m −2 , and the tested rootstocks alone, did not enable effective control of the pathogen. The need to monitor the appearance of new diseases and the resurgence of old ones is stressed.