Pertot, I., SafeCrop Centre, Department of Plant Protection, Fondazione Edmund Mach, S. Michele All'Adige, Italy
Fiamingo, F., SafeCrop Centre, Department of Plant Protection, Fondazione Edmund Mach, S. Michele All'Adige, Italy
Tizianel, A., SafeCrop Centre, Department of Plant Protection, Fondazione Edmund Mach, S. Michele All'Adige, Italy
Fratton, S., SafeCrop Centre, Department of Plant Protection, Fondazione Edmund Mach, S. Michele All'Adige, Italy
Elad, Y., Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, ARO the Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel

Integrated pest management can provide adequate control of powdery mildew of strawberry (Podosphaera aphanis) with reduced quantities of chemicals. The optimal integration of chemical and biocontrol agents (BCAs) is based on the precise timing of all treatments to correspond to specific disease stages, while avoiding the possibility of the chemicals having any negative effects on the microorganisms used as BCAs. We evaluated the effects of different application timings of some widely used chemical fungicides (sulphur, penconazole, tetraconazole, quinoxyfen, bupirimate, kresoxim-methyl and pyraclostrobin) and BCAs (Ampelomyces quisqualis, Bacillus subtilis QST713 and Trichoderma harzianum T39) on strawberry powdery mildew in greenhouses. Sulphur effectively prevented disease when it was applied before the plants were inoculated. Postinoculation applications of penconazole, tetraconazole + sulphur, quinoxyfen, bupirimate, kresoxim-methyl and pyraclostrobin + boscalid generally provided better disease control than post-inoculation applications of sulphur. The BCAs were less effective than the examined chemicals. The survival of T. harzianum T39 and B. subtilis QST713 on strawberry leaves was not affected by the fungicide treatments; whereas the viability of A. quisqualis decreased significantly in all of the chemical treatments. The information concerning the characteristics of control agents and constraints associated with their use can assist in the development of guidelines for effective integrated disease management programs.