Research Information System
III. BALKAN AGRICULTURAL CONGRESS, Edirne, Turkey, 29 August 2021, pp.340
Mersin is one of the important cities that grows tomatoes in Turkey. In this study, tomato
bacterial disease surveys were conducted in 130 individual greenhouses located in Silifke, a
county of Mersin, and prevalence of the bacterial diseases were evaluated. Among surveyed
greenhouses, 31 were infected with bacterial disease symptoms like chlorosis and necrosis on
leaves, wilt, stem rot and pith necrosis. A total of 317 putative bacterial strains were isolated
from diseased plants. Amongst them, 109 plant pathogenic bacterial strains were identified
using physiological and biochemical tests, MALDI-TOF MS, PCR and sequencing tools. The
prevalence of bacterial diseases in tomato growing greenhouses in Silifke, Mersin was recorded
as 23.8%. The pathogenic bacterium, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, was widespread by
17.7% in the region followed by a prevalence 4.6% of Stenotrophomonas spp. and 1.5%
prevalence of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis and Pectobacterium
carotovorum subsp. carotovorum, respectively. The probable plant opportunistic bacteria from
the genera Stenotrophomonas Paenibacillus, Microbacterium and Arthrobacter spp. were
rarely isolated for the first time in Turkey. In the future, further tests should be conducted to
verify their pathogenicity on tomatoes and other crops. This study was supported by Erciyes
University Scientific Research Projects Unit (ID: FYL-2019-9570).