Grapevine-associated microorganisms: Antagonistic potential towards Botrytis cinerea varies between habitats, cultivation methods and grapevine species

Botrytis cinerea is a serious fungal pathogen of grapevine all over the world. To develop effective strategies in biological control it is important to understand the microbial ecology of grapevine. Dual culture plate assays were conducted to find out the distributions of the antagonistic potential in different habitats and different plant varieties. In this study, the abundances of antagonists in cultivated grapevine, organically and conventionally treated, were compared to wild varieties of Vitis vinifera sylvestris and V. riparia. Significant differences of the occurrence and composition of bacterial and fungal antagonists between the different habitats and plant varieties were found.