• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.375-381
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• 2008

A new disease causing skin sooty dapple symptoms on fruits, leaves, and young shoot of Asian pear occurred in Korea. However, no chemical control approaches has been developed to control this disease. To investigate ecological aspects of this disease, we conducted field surveys in the high or low disease occurred orchards. The years with heavy rainfall caused severe occurrence of the skin sooty dapple disease than the years with lower rainfall during all growth stages of pear fruit. Different fruit-wrapping bags did not prevent occurrence of skin sooty dapple disease, and lesion numbers were higher in lower parts of fruit equatorial line inside of fruit-wrapping bags. There is a direct correlation between occurrence of the skin sooty dapple disease and frequency of fungicide application in the orchards. Among the tested commercial fungicides, thiophanate-methyl WP and penconazole WP completely inhibited the growth of the Cladosporium sp. in in vitro studies but little protection was observed in the field following fungicide applications. However, application of lime sulfur combined with the use of fruit-wrapping bags most effectively reduced incidence of the disease in the field. Our results suggest that skin sooty dapple disease could be a serious problem in sustainable organic pear farms and effective control methods for this disease urgently required.