Pseudomonas meeting - Cost 873

INFORMATİON ON PEACH BACTERİAL CANKER İN AEGEANREGİON OF TURKEYHatice OZAKTAN 1 Ahmet AKKOPRU 1 Adem BOZKURT 1 Mine ERDAL 21University of Ege, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Plant Protection 35100,Bornova-İzmir/Turkey2 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Quarantine Directorate, Alsancak-Izmir / TurkeyE-mail: hatice.ozaktan@ege.edu.trPeach production has been reached from 235.000- tons to 552.000 tons, showing more thantwo-fold increases, within 20 years in Turkey. In recent years, the peach orchards, have thecapacity more than 10.000 trees have been established in Western Anatolia Region of Turkey.The most important problem of peach orchards is bacterial diseases. Bacterial canker has beenknown to occur in stone fruits since the late 1960s in Turkey. Bacterial canker has been anincreasing problem in the Western Anatolia Region of Turkey, particularly on young peachtrees in recent years. Two related bacteria, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae van Hall andP. s. pv. morsprunorum (Wormald) Young et al., can cause bacterial canker. Both pathogensaffect sweet cherry, sour cherry, plums and peach in the Aegean Region. These bacteria prefercold, wet conditions to spread. Trees under stress (especially frost damage) are moresusceptible to infection. During the surveys conducted in peach orchards of Agean Region in2007, totally 62 orchards were visited and the samples of twigs, limbs,leaves and brunchshowing disease symptoms from 12 peach orchards were collected and taken to the laboratoryfor further analysis and investigations. King’s B Medium was used for the isolation ofbacterial pathogens from diseased peach organs. Bacterial strains were identified on the basisof cultural characteristics, and some biochemical tests (LOPAT tests). According to theresults of isolation and LOPAT tests, 6 bacterial strains were identified asP.s.pv.morsprunorum. As a result of surveys conducted in Aegean region in 2007, prevalencyof bacterial canker on peach orchards was recorded as 10%. Successful diagnosis of bacterialcanker was best accomplished when symptoms were examined during the early stages ofdevelopment. This was usually 2-3 weeks before and after full bloom. After this period, itbecame very difficult to isolate the bacterial pathogen and to differentiate its symptoms fromthose caused by freeze injury and secondary microbes. Already, There is no evidence orofficial record on the presence of Bacterial dieback of peach, caused by P.s.pv.persicae inTurkey. Unfortunately, it has not been yet clear if the pathogenic bacteria belonged toP.s.pv.morsprunorum or P.s.pv.persicae. Biochemical tests will continue to obtain the resultsof precise identification of P.syringae pathovars during our research.8