Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Tomato Bacterial Wilt on Virginia's Eastern Shore

Bacterial wilt of tomato caused by Ralstonia solanacearum is one of the most devastating diseases of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) on the Eastern Shore of Virginia (ESV). Four research trials were conducted on the ESV over three growing seasons to determine the temporal and spatial distribution of bacterial wilt throughout commercial tomato fields. Individual plants were assessed at ≈1-week intervals throughout the growing seasons with the incidence of bacterial wilt for each individual plant being recorded. Bacterial wilt increased gradually during each growing season. An increase in the clustered distribution of symptomatic plants was determined to exist within rows but not across rows. There were positive correlations between disease incidence and the percentage of rows exhibiting a significantly clustered distribution in every trial. These findings suggest that as bacterial wilt incidence increases in tomato fields by either the intimate contact between roots of adjacent tomato plants or the movement of the pathogen in surface irrigation water, symptomatic plants become more clustered within rows.