Monilinia brown rot

(Monilinia fructicola (Winter) Honey)

EC listed disease

Blossom blight on plum.

Brown, rapidly spreading rot on a peach fruit.

Mummified plum fruit with greyish pustules.

Brown, sunken lesion on nectarine shoot, centred on a fruit spur.

Greyish pustules on a plum fruit.

Cup-shaped, brown fruiting bodies (apothecia) on overwintered, mummified plum fruit.

Photographs by G. G. Fry, CSL (bottom centre); Themis J. Michailides, Kearney Agricultural Center, University of California (bottom right); and S. McKirdy, Agriculture Western Australia

Monilinia brown rot

(Monilinia fructicola (Winter) Honey)
HOSTS: Mainly Prunus species, especially plum and peach, but Malus and Pyrus can also be attacked. Also recorded on Chaenomeles, Crataegus, Cydonia, Eriobotrya and Vitis. DISTRIBUTION: North, Central and South America; parts of Asia and southern Africa; Australia and New Zealand. SYMPTOMS: Primarily a disease of mature fruits, but blossom and spur blight also occur leading to twig and shoot dieback. On blossoms, infected tissues become brown and wither, giving a blighted appearance. The infected blossoms often stick to twigs in a gummy mass and frequently become covered in greyish, powdery spore masses (pustules). Young leaves may occasionally be infected, causing a blight of terminal shoots. On fruit spurs, twigs and shoots, cankers appear as brown, lensshaped, sunken lesions which may exude copious amounts of gum and are usually covered with greyish pustules. Lesions develop only on the current years growth and do not spread into older wood. Small twigs can be girdled within the season, causing dieback. Lesions which do not girdle the stem develop callused margins and do not enlarge further. On mature fruits, a brown, rapidly spreading rot develops. Unlike rots caused by hizopus, Botrytis or Penicillium, the flesh stays relatively firm and the skin usually darkens and remains intact. As the rot progresses, pustules burst through the fruit surface, especially where there is bruising or damage. Many infected fruits remain attached to the tree and become dry and shrivelled (mummified). Mummified fruits which fall to the ground may produce cup-shaped, pale brown fruiting bodies (apothecia), 520 mm in diameter, in the following spring. Immature,

EC listed disease
green fruits rarely develop brown rot unless they are damaged, aborted, fall to the ground or are in contact with a rotting fruit. Laboratory examination is required to distinguish M. fructicola from the indigenous species, M. fructigena and M. laxa, which are widespread in Europe. SOURCES: Introduced on imported, infected planting material and fruit. DEVELOPMENT: Blossom infection can be initiated in the spring from two sources: spores (conidia) produced from pustules on overwintered twig cankers, blossom stalks or mummified fruits; and spores (ascospores) produced in apothecia on overwintered, mummified fruits on the soil (cf. the European Monilinia species, which only very rarely produce apothecia). Both types of spore are dispersed by wind, but conidia are also dispersed by insects and rain-splash. Blossoms are readily infected and symptoms develop in 56 days; the fungus may then spread through the flower stalk to infect fruit spurs, twigs and shoots. Conidia produced on infected tissues are dispersed to infect other blossoms and fruits. Infections on immature fruits typically remain latent until the fruit matures. Mature fruits can be infected directly through wounds and symptoms develop within 23 days. ots may also spread to adjacent fruits by contact, both on the tree and in store. Healthy fruits infected immediately before, or at, harvest typically develop brown rot during or after storage. DISEASE STATUS: Monilinia brown rot is a serious disease and is listed in EC plant health legislation. If the disease is suspected, inform your local Plant Health Inspector.
Text prepared by CSL

Central Science Laboratory, Sand Hutton, York YO41 1LZ

Crown copyright 2000 PB 5002

ef. no. QIC/50