Secondary inoculum dynamics of Monilinia spp. and relationship to the incidence of postharvest brown rot in peaches and the weather conditions during the growing season

Abstract

Eight field surveys over three growing seasons (April to October in 2006, 2007, and 2008) were done in three commercial peach and nectarine orchards in order to determine the secondary inoculum dynamics of Monilinia spp. and relationship to the weather conditions and incidence of postharvest brown rot in the Ebro Valley, which is the main peach fruit growing region in Spain. After regression analysis of the epidemiological data of postharvest brown rot and the climatic variables, a disease outbreak can be predicted from (i) the times of the first appearance of airborne conidia, the first appearance of conidia on the surface of flowers and fruits, and the first latent infection, all of which occur 2 months before harvest (ii) the number of conidia on the fruit surface, 2 weeks and 1 week before harvest, (iii) the preharvest incidence of brown rot, and (iv) the mean environmental temperature from popcorn to harvest. From these results, we confirmed the importance of the secondary inoculum dynamics of Monilinia spp. and the utility of these dynamics to predict an outbreak of brown rot in peaches on the day of their harvest and after their harvesting.