Occurrence of diseases and damage when cultivating chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) [Auftreten von Krankheiten und Sch?digungen im Anbau von Kamille (Matricaria recutita L.)]

摘要

The cultivation of chamomile (Matricaria recutita L), one of the most important medicinal plants in Germany in terms of area with Thuringia being the main growing area, has been severely threatened since 2007 by the occurrence of an unknown disease. Investigations show that the causes of damage are very complex. On the one hand, a species of fungus of the genus Septoria was found. On the other hand a fungus morphologically similar to Entylomella trailii was detected, however belonging to ascomycetes according to DNA-sequences. For the latter, it is still unclear whether it is two different fungi. Furthermore, damage by larvae was detected in the stems of chamomile, which are still to be identified. According to preliminary studies on the pathogenicity, the importance of the single harmful organisms for the disease cannot be estimated yet. Testing 12 fungicides in practice led to yield stabilization only when applied late, which in turn resulted in exceeding the maximum residue limit. Concerning the chamomile stem larvae, the application during the start of bolting was too late because of the early infestation. The spatial concentration of the chamomile flower production should be allowed to disperse and the crop rotation to relax in the medium term. Further research work concerning diagnosis, biology and epidemiology of the harmful organisms is essential to develop sustainable plant protection concepts and urgently necessary to enable a stable cultivation of chamomile in Germany.