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Monitoring spore dispersal and early infections of Diplocarpon coronariae causing apple blotch using selected spore traps and a new qPCR method

Boutry, Clémence; Bohr, Anne; Buchleither, Sascha; Ludwig, Mathias; Oberhänsli, Thomas; Tamm, Lucius; Schärer, Hans-Jakob and Flury, Pascale (2021) Monitoring spore dispersal and early infections of Diplocarpon coronariae causing apple blotch using selected spore traps and a new qPCR method. bioRxiv - The preprint server for biology, online, xx-xx.

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Document available online at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.25.453640v1


Summary

Apple blotch (AB) is a major disease of apples in Asia and recently also emerging in Europe and the USA. It is caused by the fungus Diplocarpon coronariae (Dc) (formerly: Marssonina coronaria; teleomorph: Diplocarpon mali) and leads to severe defoliation of apple trees in late summer and thus to reduced yield and fruit quality. To develop effective crop protection strategies, a sound knowledge of the pathogen’s biology is crucial. However, especially data on the early phase of disease development is scarce, and no data on spore dispersal for Europe is available. In this study, we assessed different spore traps for their capacity to capture Dc spores, and we developed a highly sensitive TaqMan qPCR method to quantify Dc conidia in spore trap samples. With these tools, we monitored the temporal and spatial spore dispersal and disease progress in spring and early summer in an extensively managed apple orchard in Switzerland in 2019 and 2020. Our results show that Dc overwinters in leaf litter and that spore dispersal and primary infections occur already in late April and beginning of May. We provide the first results on early-season spore dispersal of Dc, which, combined with the observed disease progress, helps to understand the disease dynamics and improve disease forecast models. Using the new qPCR method, we finally detected Dc in buds, on bark and on fruit mummies, suggesting that these apple organs may serve as additional overwintering habitats for the fungus.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:orchards, apples, Marssonina, plant protection, field trails, Abacus, FiBL20044
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
orchards
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5379
English
apples
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_541
English
Marssonina
http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_23946
Subjects: Crop husbandry > Production systems > Fruit and berries
Crop husbandry > Crop health, quality, protection
Research affiliation: Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Crop protection
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Field trials
Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Special crops > Fruit
DOI:10.1101/2021.07.25.453640
Deposited By: Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, FiBL
ID Code:43323
Deposited On:14 Jan 2022 13:29
Last Modified:14 Jan 2022 13:29
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Submitted for peer-review but not yet accepted

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