Advanced search
Start date
Betweenand


Temporal progress and spacial pattern of brown rot epidemics on peach

Full text
Author(s):
Davi Carvalho de Souza
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Master's Dissertation
Press: Piracicaba.
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC)
Defense date:
Examining board members:
Lilian Amorim; Anita de Souza Dias Gutierrez; Angelo Pedro Jacomino
Advisor: Lilian Amorim
Abstract

The brown rot of peach is one of the main diseases in peach orchards in the State of São Paulo and in most peach producing regions in the world. In Brazil, brown rot is caused by the fungus Monilinia fructicola and it attacks stems, blossoms and fruits in the pre and post harvest periods. The understanding of the brown rot epidemiologic behavior in tropical conditions is essential to the establishment of more efficient control strategies in Brazilian orchards. In this context, the present work aimed to characterize the temporal progress and the spatial distribution of the peach brown rot in commercial orchards under natural infection conditions. The study was carried out in untreated and fungicide-sprayed commercial areas in Paranapanema and Jarinu, SP, in 2005 and 2006. Fruit samplings were performed fortnightly during 3 months after blooming. At least 300 fruits were collected in each sampling and treated with gramoxone herbicide to detect latent infection. Temporal data analysis was done by non-linear regression between disease incidence (y) and time (x). The spatial pattern of diseased fruit was assessed by the dispersion index (D) and the modified Taylor?s power law which relate observed and binomial variances. During these two years in the area studied, brown rot presented a tendency for exponential growth with low incidence in the beginning of the season and expressive increase in the beginning of fruit ripening. The exponential model presented a better fit to the data for the two year study period. In 2005, the brown rot incidence reached maximum values during the harvest: 70% in treated trees and 66,4% in untreated trees. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in brown rot incidence in trees with or without fungicide treatment in model parameters as well as in the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC). In 2006, the disease progress curves for treated and untreated trees were not similar. Disease progress curves for untreated trees were characterized by the rapid increase in infections incidence after the ripening of the fruit, reaching in the last evaluation, 59,17% for Holambra II and 74,37% in Jarinu. Chemical control was effective in 2006, with low brown rot incidence in treated trees throughout the harvest in both sites. In the orchard evaluated in 2005, the aggregation of diseased fruit (4,7<D<6,8) was observed in the second half of the season and attributed to piles of mummified fruit in the orchard?s vicinity. The random spacial pattern was predominant in the 2006 harvest in both orchards evaluated (0,88<D<1,52). Diseased fruit aggregations were observed only at harvest time, while the disease was spread throughout the orchard, indicating that some trees had many diseased fruits while in others the healthy fruit predominated. The quick progress and the heterogeneous distribution of the epidemics demonstrate the importance of eliminating the inoculum sources for the control of this disease. (AU)