The effects of harpin on fruiting and botrytis cinerea resistance of three pepper cultivars

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the marketable yield of pepper plants after harpin treatments to induce Botrytis cinerea resistance. The foliar application of harpin was studied in three cultivars of pepper (Capsicum annum L. cvs. Demre, Sari Sivri and Yalova Charleston) inoculated with Botrytis cinerea. There was no difference in the percentage of rotten fruits from plants treated with harpin + B. cinema compared with the controls and plants treated with harpin only. Additionally, for all cultivars, the mean fruit weight was higher in plants treated with harpin + B. cinerea than in those subjected to B. cinerea alone. The cultivar Sari Sivri gave the best reaction to harpin treatments in terms of fruit quality. These results showed that harpin may induce resistance to B. cinerea in pepper plants.