Biological and chemical control of strawberry gray mold disease in greenhouse

Strawberry gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers.: Fr. is one of the most important diseases of in humid conditions. In this research, the effect of commercial fungicides Roomak® with the active ingredient of pistachio essential oil (Pistacia atlantica Desf.) with the concentrations of 3, 4 and 5; Serenade® containing Bacillus subtilis QST 713 bacteria with the concentrations of 3, 5 and 7, and CeraQuint® with active ingredients copper sulfate and potassium phosphite with concentrations of 2.5, 3 and 3.5, were evaluated in the suppression of gray mold in comparison with the Signum® (boscalid+pyraclostrobin). The experiments were carried out in a complete randomized blocks design with 11 treatments and four replications under the greenhouse conditions. The treatments were applied at the bloom formation time and once every 7–10 days in three stages. The effect of the treatments was evaluated according to percentage of blossom blight and number of infected fruits in the plants and the percentage of infected fruits after storage condition. The results showed that Signum® is the most effective treatment in reducing blossom blight, the number of infected fruits and the percentage of infected fruits in different evaluation stages. Fungicides: Roomak® (4/1000), Serenade® (5/1000) and CeraQuint® (3/1000), reduced the number of infected fruits about 74.9–83.2, 71.6–83.6 and 72.1–82.6 percentage, respectively. The efficiency of these treatments was estimated as 57.9, 54.3, and 66.7% in the reduction of the percentage of infected fruits after harvesting, respectively. The evaluation of the effect of mentioned treatments on blossom blight, showed that the disease was reduced by 62.5–89.3, 54.90–90.5 and 71.4–91.5, respectively. In this way, the use of Romak®, Serenad® and Seraquint® fungicides is effective to control of strawberry gray mold disease, in flowering stages and once every seven days and have fewer disadvantageous effects on health and the environment, compared to chemical fungicides.