First Reports of Brown Fruit Rot on Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium) and Plum (P. domestica) and Shoot Blight on Apricot (P. armeniaca), Kwanzan Cherry (P. serrulata), and Sweet Cherry (P. avium) Caused by Monilinia laxa in New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts
Authors: Cox K. D. , Villani S. M. , Raes J. J. , Freier J. , Faubert H. , Cooley D. , Clements J. 
Published: September 2011

In the eastern United States, Monilinia laxa (Aderh. & Ruhl.) Honey has only been reported on tart cherry in New York (NY) (1). As a result of considerable rain in May of 2009 and 2011, an ornamental planting of Kwanzan cherries in Middletown, Rhode Island (RI), a planting of sweet cherry cvs. Ulster, Hedelfingen, Sam, and Lapins in Lanesboro, Massachusetts (MA), and plantings of apricot cvs. Harcot and Hargrande in Albion, Aurora, and Geneva, NY, and Harogem in Lanesboro, MA developed severe shoot blight (>15 to 100% of first-year shoots). Blighted shoots were wilted with the blight encompassing the distal end and often extending into second-year tissue with a distinct sunken margin. Leaves on symptomatic shoots had flushed, but were blighted and light brown. Blossom spurs were often blighted and gummosis was frequently observed at the base. In these same years, sweet cherry cv. Black Gold in Walworth, NY and plum cv. Stanley in Olcott, NY developed severe fruit rot (35 to 70% incidence). Plantings suffering from fruit rot had fruit lesions that began as pale brown, soft lesions with indiscriminant margins that covered 15 to 85% of the fruit surface area. Many blighted spurs, shoot tissues, and infected fruit were sporulating with tan-to-buff colored conidia produced in chains. From each planting with shoot blight, shoot tips were removed for pathogen isolation. Sections of symptomatic shoots (5 cm long) were surface sterilized in 0.6% NaOCl for 1 min and rinsed in sterile dH20. From plantings displaying blighted spurs or fruit rot, isolation was attempted directly from sporulating tissue. Cross sections of sterilized shoot tissue (3 mm thick) or tufts of sporulation from fruit and spurs were placed on potato dextrose agar amended with 50 μg/ml of streptomycin sulfate. After incubation at 24°C for 5 days, colonies with lobed margins, commonly described for M. laxa (4), were obtained. Several colonies resembling M. fructicola were isolated from all locations, but the majority of isolates from spurs and shoots resembled M. laxa. Conidia from both colony morphotypes were lemon shaped, but as expected, those from putative M. laxa isolates were smaller (10.75 × 12.0 μm) compared with those from putative M. fructicola isolates (15.75 × 18.25 μm) (4). Confirmation of M. laxa was further achieved by PCR amplification of the β-tubulin gene using M. laxa-specific primers as previously described (3). Pathogenicity of M. laxa isolates was proven by inoculating fruit of the stone fruit crop from which they were isolated as previously described (2). Fruit inoculated with M. laxa developed brown, soft sporulating lesions identical to the original observations, while those inoculated with water remained healthy. M. laxa was reisolated from symptomatic shoots and spurs, but not from water-inoculated tissues. The presence of M. laxa has been reported on tart cherries in NY (1), but to our knowledge, this is the first instance of economically devastating shoot blight on apricot in NY and MA, ornamental cherry in RI, and sweet cherry in MA and fruit rot on sweet cherry and plum in NY caused by M. laxa. In wet seasons, stone fruit growers may need to revise their chemical management programs to better prepare for M. laxa epidemics on several stone fruit species.

References: (1) K. D. Cox and S. M. Villani. Plant Dis. 94:783, 2010. (2) K. D. Cox and S. M. Villani. Plant Dis. 95:828, 2011. (3) Z. Ma et al. Pest Manag. Sci. 61:449, 2005. J.M. (4) G. C. M. van Leeuwen and H. A. van Kesteren. Can. J. Bot. 76:2042, 1998.