Peach Brown Rot: Still in Search of an Ideal Management Option

Abstract

Abstract:The peach is one of the most important global tree crops within the economically important Rosaceae family. The crop is threatened by numerous pests and diseases, especially fungal pathogens, in the field, in transit, and in the store. More than 50% of the global post-harvest loss has been ascribed to brown rot disease, especially in peach late-ripening varieties. In recent years, the disease has been so manifest in the orchards that some stone fruits were abandoned before harvest. In Spain, particularly, the disease has been associated with well over 60% of fruit loss after harvest. The most common management options available for the control of this disease involve agronomical, chemical, biological, and physical approaches. However, the effects of biochemical fungicides (biological and conventional fungicides), on the environment, human health, and strain fungicide resistance, tend to revise these control strategies. This review aims to comprehensively compile the information currently available on the species of the fungus Monilinia, which causes brown rot in peach, and the available options to control the disease. The breeding for brown rot-resistant varieties remains an ideal management option for brown rot disease control, considering the uniqueness of its sustainability in the chain of crop production.

Exploring sources of resistance to brown rot in an interspecific almond × peach population

“…One of the most challenging issues concerning crop improvement is breeding for disease resistance . For this reason, breeders and pathologists have focused on obtaining new cultivars that are resistant to pathogens.…”

“…One of the most challenging issues concerning crop improvement is breeding for disease resistance. 29 For this reason, breeders and pathologists have focused on obtaining new cultivars that are resistant to pathogens. This study, which incorporates phenotyping of an almond × peach population under controlled laboratory conditions, represents an important step toward achieving this goal.…”

Breeding strategies for identifying superior peach genotypes resistant to brown rot

“…All the genotype-pathogen interactions indicated variable degrees of susceptibility, and occurred in genotypes harvested both in the early-or late-season. Nevertheless, the susceptibility of peach to brown rot depends on the interaction between the host (cultivar) and the pathogen (Obi et al, 2018a(Obi et al, , 2018b, not on the season or ripening time. However, when fruits are harvested later in the season, they are sweeter and larger, and have higher total phenolics, flavonoids (Font i Forcada et al, 2013, Abdelghafat et al, 2018, and total sugar contents (Font i Forcada et al, 2013).…”

“…In peach, the pathogen initiates and encourages flower blights, twig and branch death, spurs, and fruit rot in the field (Gell et al, 2007). The activity of the pathogen on peach is therefore highly destructive from the flowering stage, to fruit production, and storage (Thomidis and Exadaktylou, 2010; see Obi et al, 2018b for a review).…”

“…Host tolerance to plant pathogens is important for the development of cost effective and environmentally safe strategies for disease management (Gradziel, 1994). Similarly, according to Gell et al (2007) the use of resistant cultivars in crop improvement is critical for crop protection, since plants and plant products are usually protected from (prophylactic) (Mooney et al, 2012), rather than cured of, diseases (chemotherapeutic) (Obi et al, 2018b). The choice of cultivar significantly influences rot incidence and severity among other potential factors in stone fruits (Tarbath et al, 2014).…”