Grape berry bacterial inhibition by different copper fungicides

¹ USC Œnologie- INRA, Université Bordeaux Segalen, ISVV, Villenave d'Ornon, France
² Bordeaux Sciences Agro, Gradignan Cedex, France

Abstract

Copper fungicides are widely used in viticulture. Due to its large spectrum of action, copper provides an efficient control over a great number of vine pathogens. Previous studies showed that, high levels of cupric residues can impact grape-berry microbiota, in terms of the size and population structure, reducing the diversity and the abundance. Due to the importance of grape-berry bacterial in crop health, and the potential impact of copper fungicides over the microbiota, we determined Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of different copper formulations for bacterial species isolated from grape berries. We study the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of different copper formulations (copper sulphate (CuSO4) pure, Bordeaux mixture (CuSO4 + Ca(OH)2), copper oxide (Cu2O), copper hydroxide (Cu(OH)2)) over 92 bacterial strains isolated from grape berries in different stages of the ripening process. The results of MIC measurements revealed that the different copper formulations have a variable inhibitory effect and among the different isolates, some species are the most resistant to all copper formulations than others. This study confirm that usage of cupric phytosanitary products should be reasonable independently of the farming system; they also provide evidence of the importance of the choice of which copper formulations are to be used regarding their impact on the grape berry bacterial microbiota.