Abstract
Brown rot, caused by fungi belonging to the genus Monilinia, is one of the most important diseases of stone and pome trees in the world. During the summers of 2010 and 2011, a total of 670 Monilinia spp. isolates were obtained from infected fruits. They were collected from different commercial stone and pome fruit orchards, located in northern, southern and central Poland. All isolates were identified using multiplex PCR. Twenty isolates obtained from plum, peach and apple fruits were identified as M. polystroma and 5 isolates from plums as M. fructicola. The remaining isolates were identified as M. fructigena or M. laxa. The identification of the isolates was also confirmed on the basis of growth characteristics in culture according to the EPPO standard PM 7/18. A comparison of morphological features of four Monilinia spp. growing on two selective growth media, APDA-F500 and CHA, indicated significant differences between these species. In artificial inoculation of fruits, all the examined Monilinia spp. isolates were pathogenic. The species affiliation of M. polystroma and M. fructicola isolates collected from orchards in Poland was confirmed on the base of phylogenetic and sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1/5.8S rDNA/ITS2) region of ribosomal DNA.
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Acknowledgments
Anna Poniatowska wishes to thank Professor László Palkovics and Dr. Marietta Petróczy for the opportunity to perform the molecular analysis of some fungal isolates used in this study during the Short Scientific Training (Cost Action 864) at Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary, in November 2010. The authors highly appreciate the help and useful suggestions from Dr. Grażyna Szkuta and are also grateful for the possibility of performing some parts of this study in Central Laboratory of Main Inspectorate of Plant Health and Seed Inspection in Toruń, Poland. The authors wishes to thank to Dr. Mark Mazzola (USDA-ARS, Tree Fruit Research Lab Wenatchee, WA, USA) for the English correction and valuable remarks.
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Poniatowska, A., Michalecka, M. & Bielenin, A. Characteristic of Monilinia spp. fungi causing brown rot of pome and stone fruits in Poland. Eur J Plant Pathol 135, 855–865 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-012-0130-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10658-012-0130-2