ARS | Publication request: A METHOD FOR SCREENING PRUNUS CULTIVARS FOR RESISTANCE TO GUMMOSIS, SHOT HOLE AND RUST

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: April 1, 2002
Publication Date: June 1, 2002
Citation: REILLY, C.C., BECKMAN, T.G. A METHOD FOR SCREENING PRUNUS CULTIVARS FOR RESISTANCE TO GUMMOSIS, SHOT HOLE AND RUST. PHYTOPATHOLOGY. 2002. v.92(6)(Suppl.):Abstract p.S68-S69.

Technical Abstract: A trellis system was established consisting of 4 rows, 46.2 m long, with 6.8 m middles. Support braces 1.9 m tall and 1.2 m wide (6 per row) were used to suspend 3 steel wires and steel fencing (5 cm x 10 cm x 1.2 m) the length of each trellis. A mist system, controlled by an electric timer, was placed on the wire with emitters at 1.7 m intervals. Eight replicates of the 25 most frequently planted peach cultivars in Georgia were randomly planted at 0.9 m spacing. Shoots, 1 to 1.5 m in length, pruned from peach trees in January, 2001, were collected and inoculated with Botryosphaeria dothidea (5 x 10-5 conidia/ml) and placed on the trellis wires above the newly planted trees. Misting of the trellis, 5 min per hour, occurred during May, then the pruned shoots were removed. Shot hole, Wilsonomyces carpophilus, with the inoculum source being the pruned shoots, was rated in June. Rust, Tranzschelia discolor, inoculum was obtained by removing shoots from infected trees during October, suspending them on the trellis wires, then misting at 5 min per hour for 5 days and rating for disease after 10 days. Variations in disease susceptibility was detected among the three diseases in the 25 cultivars.