Stone Fruit Diseases and their Management

Abstract

Stone fruits comprising peach, plum, almond, apricot, cherry and nectarines are attacked by various fungal and prokaryotic (i.e bacteria, fastidious vascular bacteria) pathogens. Amongst fungal diseases, the most important ones are peach leaf curl, brown rot, powdery mildew, rust, leaf spots, peach scab, canker and die-back, black knot, wilt and root rot. Amongst prokaryotic diseases, crown gall, bacterial spot, canker, phony peach, almond leaf scorch and plum leaf scald are important. Stone fruit diseases are successfully managed by the combined use of cultural, chemical and biological measures supplemented with the cultivation of resistant cultivars. Foliar diseases are effectively controlled by timely sprays of fungicides. Proper pruning, applying chemicals and antagonist effectively manage canker and die-back. Removal of severely infested plants and isolation of diseased patches controls wilt, crown and root rot. Crown gall, a very serious disease of stone fruits is being managed successfully by a non-pathogenic strain of the causal bacterium. Diseases caused by fastidious vascular bacteria are managed by applying antibiotics and rouging infested plants.KeywordsPowdery MildewLeaf SpotCrown GallSour CherryStone FruitThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.