Initiation and development of Erysiphe necator chasmothecia and their role in the epidemiology of grapevine powdery mildew in southern Syria

Powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe necator is the most important fungal disease of grapevine in southern Syria. The purpose of this study was to determine the development of chasmothecia and their role as a primary inoculum in spring. Leaves and/or branches were examined by a stereo binocular from July to December 2014 and 2015. The number of chasmothecia was estimated on both surfaces of the leaves, and their viability was estimated by microscopic examination. During 2 years of survey chasmothecia were detected in 45.5% of vineyards. The initial development of chasmothecia on infected leaves was observed in the second half of July. Their numbers increased from July to October, and the sudden reduction at the beginning of November was noted. Chasmothecia were formed on 38.7% of infected leaves, with 12.5%, 18.4%, and 7.5% on the upper, under and on both surfaces of infected leaves respectively. Chasmothecia were more frequent on the leaf under side (0.6 / leaf) than on the leaf upper side (0.4 / leaf), but their occurrence on both sides together was relatively low (0.2 / leaf), and their numbers were highly variable between vineyards and years. Microscopic examination showed that chasmothecia contained 1–5 (usually three) asci with 1–4 (usually three) ascospores in each asci, and 65.6% of chasmothecia were empty. Their viability decreased between December and February, with an average viability of 1.2% and 0.2% in March and April, respectively. Chasmothecia were not detected on bark and ascospores were not trapped at the beginning of the season. These results indicate that the ascospores have no or little role in the initiation of spring infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of E. necator chasmothecia development and their role in the initiating infection on grapevine in Syria.