• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.251-259
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• 2016

The present study investigated the suppression of the disease development of anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and C. acutatum in harvested apples using an antagonistic rhizobacterium Paenibacillus polymyxa APEC128 (APEC128). Out of 30 bacterial isolates from apple rhizosphere screened for antagonistic activity, the most effective strain was APEC128 as inferred from the size of the inhibition zone. This strain showed a greater growth in brain-heart infusion (BHI) broth compared to other growth media. There was a reduction in anthracnose symptoms caused by the two fungal pathogens in harvested apples after their treatment with APEC128 in comparison with non-treated control. This effect is explained by the increased production of protease and amylase by APEC128, which might have inhibited mycelial growth. In apples treated with different APEC128 suspensions, the disease caused by C. gloeosporioides and C. acutatum was greatly suppressed (by 83.6% and 79%, respectively) in treatments with the concentration of $1{\times}10^8$ colony forming units (cfu)/ml compared to other lower dosages, suggesting that the suppression of anthracnose development on harvested apples is dose-dependent. These results indicated that APEC128 is one of the promising agents in the biocontrol of apple anthracnose, which might help to increase the shelf-life of apple fruit during the post-harvest period.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• 제43권1호
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• pp.21-27
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• 2016

Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV), and Apple stem pitting virus (ASPV) have been known to induce top working disease causing economical damage in apple. Occurrences of these three viruses in pome fruit trees, including apple, have been reported around the world. The transmission of the three viruses was reported by grafting, and there was no report of transmission through mechanical contact, insect vector, or seed except some herbaceous hosts of ASGV. As RNA extraction methods for fruit trees, Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) and multiplex RT-PCR techniques have been improved for reliability and stability, and low titer viruses that could not be detected in the past have become detectable. We studied the seed transmission ability of three apple viruses through apple seedling diagnosis using RT-PCR. Nineteen seeds obtained from commercially grown apple were germinated and two of the resulting plants were ASGV positive. Seven clones of the amplified ASGV coat protein (CP) genes of these isolates were sequenced. Overall sequence identities were 99.84% (nucleotide) and 99.76% (amino acid). Presence of a previously unreported single nucleotide and amino acid variation conserved in all of these clones suggests a possible association with seed transmission of these 'S' isolates. A phylogenetic tree constructed using ASGV CP nucleotide sequences showed that isolate S sequences were grouped with Korean, Chinese, Indian isolates from apple and Indian isolates from kiwi.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.70-75
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• 2021

The abnormal brown sunken lesions were observed on cv. RubyS apple fruits in an orchard located in Gunwi, Gyeongbuk province, Korea. The primary observed symptoms such as small round sunken lesions and small black dots on the symptomatic area were different from the reported apple diseases. The affected apple fruits were sampled and subjected to isolation of the causal agent. Cultural and morphological characteristics of isolated fungal strain, designated KNUF-20GWA4, were similar to that of Colletotrichum spp. Based on multilocus sequence analyses using internal transcribed spacer regions and partial sequences of β-tubulin, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, chitin synthase, and actin genes, strain KNUF-20GWA4 showed 99.2-100% similarities with C. aenigma ICMP 18608 and the isolate clustered together with several other strains of this species in the phylogenetic tree. To our knowledge, this is the first report of bitter rot on apple fruits caused by C. aenigma.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.261-267
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• 2015

During the period from 2013 to 2014, disease occurrences by various pathogens in apple cultivars have been investigated in northern Gyeongbuk province of Korea. Anthracnose, white rot, Alternaria leaf spot, Marssonina blotch, and bacterial shoot blight as major diseases have been observed. Pathogens isolated from the symptomatic plants were identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides for anthracnose, Botryosphaeria dothidea for white rot, Alternaria alternata for Alternaria leaf spot, Marssonina mali for Marssonina blotch, and Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae for bacterial shoot blight. Of all diseases, the bacterial shoot blight has been severely increased in chronically infested fields in Gyeongbuk province.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• 제42권3호
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• pp.271-276
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• 2015

Crab apple cultivars, 'Maypole', 'Tuscan', and 'Manchurian', were evaluated as potential pollinizers of major apple cultivars, 'Fuji', 'Hongro', and 'Tsugaru', cultivated in high-density apple orchard systems. Numerous cultivar characteristics, including blooming time, pollen germination, fruit set, disease and pest resistance, and self-incompatibility, were examined. The blooming times of both 'Maypole' and 'Tuscan' ranged from April 19 to May 5, which was 2-4 days earlier than those of the major commercial apple cultivars. PCR analysis did not reveal the presence of any of the S-alleles (S1, S3, S7, or S9) identified in major commercial apple cultivars. In addition, the percentage of the fruit set was high after trees were artificially fertilized with crab apple pollen. Artificially cross-pollinated fruits were of similar or higher quality than open-pollinated fruits. They also demonstrated resistance to apple blotch, sooty blotch, and fly speck. The results indicate that the two crab apples, 'Maypole' and 'Tuscan' would be potential candidates for pollinizers of major apple cultivars in Korea. Use of the pollen of these crap apples in commercial production will improve fruit quality and promote sustainable and robust fruit production.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 한국균학회 2014년도 추계학술대회 및 정기총회
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• pp.34-34
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• 2014

Filamentous fungi of the genus Colletotrichum (teleomorph, Glomerella) are considered major plant pathogens worldwide. Cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit trees may be seriously affected by this pathogen (1). Colletotrichum species cause typical disease symptoms known as anthracnoses, characterized by sunken necrotic tissue, where orange conidial masses are produced. Anthracnose appears in both developing and mature plant tissues (2). We investigated disease occurrence in apple orchards from 2013 to 2014 in northern Gyeongbuk province, Korea. Typical anthracnose with advanced symptoms was observed in all apple orchards studied. Of late, static fruit spot symptoms are being observed in apple orchards. A small lesion, which does not expand further and remains static until the harvesting season, is observed at the beginning of fruit growth period. In our study, static symptoms, together with the typical symptoms, were observed on apples. The isolated fungus was tested for pathogenicity on cv. 'Fuji apple' (fully ripe fruits, unripe fruits, and cross-section of fruits) by inoculating the fruits with a conidial suspension ($10^5$ conidia/ml). In apple inoculated with typical anthracnose fungus, the anthracnose symptoms progressed, and dark lesions with salmon-colored masses of conidia were observed on fruit, which were also soft and sunken. However, in apple inoculated with fungi causing static symptoms, the size of the spots did not increase. Interestingly, the shape and size of the conidia and the shape of the appressoria of both types of fungi were found to be similar. The conidia of the two types of fungi were straight and cylindrical, with an obtuse apex. The culture and morphological characteristics of the conidia were similar to those of C. gloeosporioides (5). The conidia of C. gloeosporioides germinate and form appressoria in response to chemical signals such as host surface wax and the fruitripening hormone ethylene (3). In this study, the spores started to germinate 4 h after incubation with an ethephon suspension. Then, the germ tubes began to swell, and subsequently, differentiation into appressoria with dark thick walls was completed by 8 h. In advanced symptoms, fungal spores of virtually all the appressoria formed primary hyphae within 16 h. However, in the static-symptom fungus spores, no primary hyphae formed by 16 h. The two types of isolates exhibited different growth rates on medium containing apple pectin, Na polypectate, or glucose as the sole carbon. Static-symptom fungi had a >10% reduction in growth (apple pectin, 14.9%; Na polypectate, 27.7%; glucose, 10.4%). The fungal isolates were also genetically characterized by sequencing. ITS regions of rDNA, chitin synthase 1 (CHS1), actin (ACT), and ${\beta}$-tubulin (${\beta}t$) were amplified from isolates using primer pairs ITS 1 and ITS 4 (4), CHS-79F and CHS-354R, ACT-512F and ACT-783R, and T1 and ${\beta}t2$ (5), respectively. The resulting sequences showed 100% identity with sequences of C. gloeosporioides at KC493156, and the sequence of the ${\beta}$t gene showed 100% identity with C. gloeosporioides at JX009557.1. Therefore, sequence data from the four loci studied proves that the isolated pathogen is C. gloeosporioides. We also performed random amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR, which showed clearly differentiated subgroups of C. gloeosporioides genotypes. The clustering of these groups was highly related to the symptom types of the individual strains.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.133-140
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• 2012

In this study we investigate the use of 2D and 3D scanning optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology for use in apple blotch diagnosis. In order to test the possible application of OCT as a detection tool for apple trees affected by Marssonina coronaria, we conducted several experiments and compared the results from both healthy and infected leaves. Using OCT, we found several distinctive features in the subsurface boundary regions of both the diseased and healthy leaves. Our results indicate that leaves from diseased trees, while still appearing healthy, can be affected by M. coronaria. The A-scan analysis method confirmed that the boundaries found under the subsurface layers can be faint. This shows that M. coronaria can exert its influence on entire apple trees (as opposed to only on leaves with lesions) once it infects healthy trees. Our results indicate that OCT can be used as a noninvasive tool for the diagnosis of fungal disease in apple trees. Microscopic imaging results, performed as a histological study for comparison, correlated well with the OCT results.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.269-272
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: Since 2015, fire blight disease caused by Erwinia amylovora has been devastating apple and pear orchards every year. To quickly block the disease spreading, infected apple and pear trees have been buried in soil. However, concern on the possibility of the pathogen survival urgently requires informative data on the buried host plants. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the survival of the pathogen from the buried host plants. METHODS AND RESULTS: Apple trees buried in 42 months ago in a Jecheon site and pear trees buried in 30 months ago in an Anseong site were excavated using an excavator. Plant samples were taken from stems and twigs of the excavated trees. The collected 120 samples were checked for rotting and used for bacterial isolation, using TSA, R2A, and E. amylovora selection media. The purely isolated bacteria were identified based on colony morphology and 16S rDNA sequences. Wood rotting and decay with off smells and discoloring were observed from the samples. A total of 17 genera and 48 species of bacteria were identified but E. amylovora was not detected. CONCLUSION: Our investigation suggests that the survival of E. amylovora doesn't seem possible in the infected hosts which have been buried in soil for at least 30 months. Therefore, the burial control can be considered as a safe method for fire blight disease.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.362-366
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• 2001

This survey was carried out to investigate the effect of flooding by heavy rain on growth characteristics and disease incidence of 'Fuji'/M.26 mature apple tree in 1998 at Kyongbuk province. The surveyed regions were Andong, Uisung, and Gunwi area. The six orchards were selected from one area, totally 18 orchards were surveyed. The flooded depth of surveyed orchards was from 70 to 350 cm, and the flooded duration was from 6 to 72 h. Defoliation ratio, number of abnormal budding, and flowering per tree were increased along with the increment of flooded depth and duration. Rooting ratio was decreased rapidly with the increment of flooded duration, and dead root ratio was 16.2% in flooded orchards. Marssonia blotch (Diplocarpon mali), white rot (Botryosphaeria dothidea) of fruit, and phytophthora fruit rot (Phytophthora cactorum) incidence were increased in flooded orchards. The analysis results of pearson correlation coefficient among surveyed items showed that higher relationship of abnormal growth characteristics and increment of disease incidence of 'Fuji'/M.26 apple trees with flooded duration than with flooded depth. With these results, the flooded depth was found to be the main factor for the abnormal growth characteristics and disease incidences of 'Fuji'/M.26 apple trees.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제35권6호
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• pp.585-597
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• 2019

A disease forecast model for Marssonina blotch of apple was developed based on field observations on airborne spore catches, weather conditions, and disease incidence in 2013 and 2015. The model consisted of the airborne spore model (ASM) and the daily infection rate model (IRM). It was found that more than 80% of airborne spore catches for the experiment period was made during the spore liberation period (SLP), which is the period of days of a rain event plus the following 2 days. Of 13 rain-related weather variables, number of rainy days with rainfall ≥ 0.5 mm per day (L_day), maximum hourly rainfall (P_max) and average daily maximum wind speed (W_avg) during a rain event were most appropriate in describing variations in airborne spore catches during SLP (S_i) in 2013. The ASM, Ŝ_i = 30.280+5.860×L_day×P_max-2.123×L_day×P_max×W_avg was statistically significant and capable of predicting the amount of airborne spore catches during SLP in 2015. Assuming that airborne conidia liberated during SLP cause leaf infections resulting in symptom appearance after 21 days of incubation period, there was highly significant correlation between the estimated amount of airborne spore catches (Ŝ_i) and the daily infection rate (R_i). The IRM, ${\hat{R}}_i$ = 0.039+0.041×Ŝ_i, was statistically significant but was not able to predict the daily infection rate in 2015. No weather variables showed statistical significance in explaining variations of the daily infection rate in 2013.