Evaluation of Potential of Mandarin Hybrid 'Shiranuhi' against inoculation of Bacterial Canker Disease Pathogen (Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri) in Citrus Field in Jeju Island

This study was carried out to evaluate potential of Shiranuhi cultivar against inoculation of causal pathogen of citrus canker, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri in Jeju Island by comparing degree of susceptibility of fruits and leaves/twigs, and analysis of incidence of canker disease. Progression of symptom, disease incidence, and percent area of lesion were surveyed for evaluation of resistance. In greenhouse condition, symptoms of bacterial citrus canker progressed more rapidly in sweet orange, a moderately susceptible cultivar, than in other four cultivars (satsuma mandarin, 'Kiyomi', 'Shiranuhi' and 'Yuzu'). At 20 days after inoculation, disease severity was the highest in sweet orange (5.0$\pm$0.0), and all tested leaves were distorted or had dropped. On the other hand, 'Yuzu' showed the lowest disease severity (2.6$\pm$0.47), followed by 'Kiyomi' (4.0$\pm$0.0), 'Shiranuhi' (4.0$\pm$0.82), and satsuma mandarin (4.3$\pm$0.47). Percent area of lesion per leaf 30 days after inoculation was the highest in sweet orange (8.31$\pm$1.78), followed by satsuma mandarin (1.51$\pm$1.25), 'Shiranuhi' (1.39$\pm$0.94), and 'Kiyomi' (1.1$\pm$0.9), while the lowest was in 'Yuzu' (0.26$\pm$0.17). Infield condition, percentage of diseased leaf in 'Shiranuhi' was very low, 5.2$\pm$2.9, compared with sweet orange, 71.0$\pm$ 11.5, while that of satsuma mandarin and 'Kiyomi' were 6.9$\pm$7.0 and 4.3$\pm$2.0, respectively. Percentages of diseased leaf was higher (17.4$\pm$7.1) than that of diseased fruit (3.2$\pm$2.5) in severely diseased trees of Shiranuhi cultivar, and the disease was not observed on twig in open field condition. Lesion sizes on leaves and fruits in open field condition were 4.1$\pm$2.2 mm2 and 5.1$\pm$5.6 mm2, respectively, while those in greenhouse condition were 8.7$\pm$5.7 mm2, 10.4$\pm$9.2 mm2 and 5.6$\pm$2.6 mm2 on leaves, fruits and twigs, respectively. The disease was observed in 5.6% out of total 107 farmers Shiranuhi fields under polyethylene film house, and average percentages of diseased tree in 31 fields of Shiranuhi cultivar and adjacent satsuma mandarin fields were 0.02% and 14.8%, respectively. Average percentage of diseased fruit was 1.6% in satsuma mandarin which was not observed in anyone of all the 31 Shiranuhi farmers fields. Therefore, it was concluded that 'Shiranuhi' cultivar is not potential against causal pathogen of citrus canker disease in Jeju Island because the cultivar has similar resistance as satsuma mandarin which occupies over 95% of total 25,000 ha in Jeju Island in polyethylene film houses protected from outside.