Infection of potato tubers with the common scab pathogen Streptomyces scabiei in a soil-less system

A novel soil-less method was developed to define susceptibility of developing potato tubers accurately to infection with Streptomyces scabiei the causal agent of common scab disease. Hydroponic production enabled precise identification of individual tuber development. Direct inoculation of tubers with a spore suspension of S. scabiei resulted in disease development, demonstrating that infection could be initiated in a soil-less media. Tubers were most susceptible to infection between 3 and 20 days after tuber initiation, confirming that this early period of tuber formation is critical to disease development.