Epidemiological aspects of onion downy mildew in the region of Alto Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina State, Brazil

ABSTRACT With the aim of studying the epidemiology of onion downy mildew caused by Peronospora destructor in the region of Alto Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, an assay was conducted with naturally infected plants in 2014 and 2015 growing seasons. At every seven days, for 19 weeks, the population of sporangia in the air was quantified, the environmental conditions were recorded and the severity in plants was evaluated. Even in an environment favorable to the disease, its onset occurred at nine weeks after transplanting. Epidemics started one week before the first detection of inoculum in the air. The disease progress was represented by the Gompertz model y = 0.42636 *(exp(-442.06555*exp(-0.50749*x))). The yield was 34,930 and 15,773 Kg.ha-1 bulbs in the respective years of evaluation. This epidemiological study can provide information about the beginning of epidemics and can be useful in the validation of a forecast system for onion downy mildew