FIRST REPORT OF XANTHOMONAS EUVESICATORIA ON TOMATO IN BULGARIA

Bacterial spot (BS) is one of the most serious diseases of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) worldwide. To date, four pathogens have been defined as causative agents of BS. Until 2015, only the species X. vesicatoria and X. gardneri have been isolated from tomato fields in Bulgaria. In this study, for the first time, we report X. euvesicatoria as BS pathogen on tomato in Bulgaria. Twenty seven strains were isolated from different regions, identified by species-specific PCR amplification and biochemically characterized by BIOLOG. The species was presented by two pathotypes - tomato (T) and pepper-tomato (PT). PT pathotype was dominant and typical for 63% of the strains. Among the T strains three races were determined - T1, T2 and T3 with prevalence of T2 race, while among PT strains five races were identified (P0T1, P0T2, P1T2, P4T1, and P4T2). The race P4T2 was characteristic for the largest number of strains - 41% of all.