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• The brown rot fungi of fruit crops (Monilinia spp.): II. Important features of their epidemiology (Review paper)

  17-33.

  I. J. Holb

  Views:

  233

  Plant disease epidemiology provides the key to both a better understanding of the nature of a disease and the most effective approach to disease control. Brown rot fungi (Monilinia spp.) cause mainly fruit rot, blossom blight and stem canker which results in considerable yield losses both in the field and in the storage place. In order to provide a better disease control strategy, all aspects of brown rot fungi epidemiology are discribed and discussed in the second part of this review. The general disease cycle of Monilinia fructigena„M. laxa, M. fructicola and Monilia polystroma is described. After such environmental and biological factors are presented which influence the development of hyphae, mycelium, conidia, stroma and apothecial formation. Factors affecting the ability of brown rot fungi to survive are also demonstrated. Then spatio-temporal dynamics of brown rot fungi are discussed. In the last two parts, the epidemiology of brown rot fungi was related to disease warning models and some aspects of disease management.

• Effect of acidity on growth rate and stroma formation of Monilia fructigena and M. polystroma isolates

  63-67.

  I. J. Holb

  Views:

  190

  The effect of acidity (pH) ranges on the mycelial growth and stroma formation of Monilia fructigena Pers: Fr. and of M. polystroma van Leeuwen was determined on agar plates and apple fruits. Four isolates of each of the brown rot fungi and two apple cultivars, `James Grieve' and 'Cox's Orange Pippin', were used for the study. For the agar plate study, a range of the initial pH was prepared from 2.5 to 6.5. The dishes were inoculated with a 4 mm plug of each isolate and incubated at 23 °C in darkness. The mycelial growth was measured after 1.5, 4, 7, 10 and 20 days of incubation. After a 30-day incubation, stroma formation was determined by image analysis and weighing of mature stroma. In the fruit experiment, both cultivars were inoculated with one isolate of M. fructigena and of M. polystroma. The pH changes were determined after 7, 14, 28 and 35 days of incubation in both healthy and inoculated fruits. The fastest mycelial growth was at pH 4.5 for M. polystroma and at pH 3.5 for M. fructigena. After a 30-day incubation, M. polystroma isolates produced twice or three times more stroma compared to M. fructigena isolates. For both brown rot fungi, the amount of mature stroma increased from pH 3.5 to 5.5, and then decreased at pH 6.5. Results of the.fruit experiment showed that healthy fruits were quite acidic (pH < 3.5), but pH rapidly increased in the inoculated fruits for both cultivars, reaching pH 4.6-5.4 depending on cultivar and fungus isolate. On both cultivars, the stroma developed at a significantly higher pH for M. polystroma than for M. fructigena. Biological and practical implications of the results are discussed.