Orchard management and bacterial diseases of stone fruit

Abstract

The major bacterial pathogens of stone fruit in New Zealand are Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni (Smith 1903) Dye 1978, causing bacterial spot of stone fruit, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae van Hall 1902, causing bacterial blast of apricot and cherry, and P. syringae pv. persicae (Prunier et al. 1970) Young et al. 1978, causing bacterial decline of nectarine and peach. Management practices can have an important influence on the incidence of these diseases in stone fruit. This review examines treatment in the nursery, susceptibility of cultivars, effect of root health on susceptibility, rootstocks and grafting, pruning, irrigation management, frost control, and spray measures. Where appropriate, recommendations to reduce disease incidence are made.

Keywords:

• Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae
• Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae
• Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni
• bacterial diseases
• bacterial blast
• bacterial canker
• bacterial decline
• bacterial spot
• peach tree short life
• stone fruit