Prevalence of Botrytis cinerea in Tomato Greenhouses in Antalya Province of Turkey and Phenotypic Characterization of Isolates

Botrytis cinerea is one of the most important fungal diseases that decrease the yield and quality of tomato plants especially under greenhouse conditions where intensive cultivation was carried out. The fungus can infect plants under field, garden, greenhouse and storage conditions. B. cinerea has the ability to infect all aboveground parts of the plants during the vegetation period, it is prone to fungicide resistance and has high genetic variation. These features make control of the pathogen difficult. Antalya province of Turkey is an important tomato growing area and greenhouse production of tomatoes in this province is common. In 2018, a survey was conducted in Serik, Aksu, Kumluca, Finike and Kepez districts of Antalya province. Diseased tomato plant samples were obtained from 35 greenhouses. B. cinerea was found in all surveyed districts of Antalya province. The disease was more common in Serik district. The percentages of B. cinerea isolated from diseased tomato parts were 64, 20, 35, 22 and 29 from Serik, Kumluca, Kepez, Finike and Aksu districts, respectively. Phenotypic characterization of the isolates revealed that the most common phenotype was S3.