• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.511-518
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• 2020

This study was conducted to isolate and identify the fungal pathogen caused unreported post-harvest disease on apples (cv. Fuji) fruit in Korea. The disease symptoms on apples appeared as irregular, light to dark brown, slightly sunken spots. The three fungal strains were isolated from infected tissues of apple fruits and their cultural and morphological characteristics were completely consistent with those of Plenodomus collinsoniae. The phylogenetic analysis using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, beta-tubulin (TUB), and the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RPB2) sequences revealed the closest relationship of the isolates with Plenodomus collinsoniae at the species level. The pathogenicity test showed the same dark brown spots on Fuji apple cultivar. Therefore, P. collinsoniae is a newly reported fungal agent causing post-harvest disease on apples in Korea.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.198-201
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• 2016

Recently, severe dieback of apple tree has occurred in the apple orchards of Chungbuk province. Dieback rate and its casual agents have been investigated on the Chungbuk province apple orchards in 2013-2015. Out of 29,265 apple trees in the 27 orchards throughout Chungbuk province, 4,000 apple trees (13.7%) showed dieback symptoms. The causes of dieback were Phytophthora rot (50.4%), violet root rot by Helicobasidium sp. (27.1%), rodents (10%), white root rot by Rosellinia sp. (6.3%), and freezing injury (6.3%). Compared to previous reports published in 1995 and 2006, Phytophthora rot was the most dominant disease, which is thought to be due to high temperature during growing season and the increase of lowland cultivation. Results of this study will be useful to establish of the management strategy of apple tree dieback that has been increased recently.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.708-718
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• 2016

Two different pest control programs were applied on 8-year-old 'Ryoka'/M.26 apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.). Lime sulfur or Bordeaux mixture with emulsified oil were applied 12 times from late March to mid-September as organic treatment, and synthetic chemicals were 7 times applied as control treatment. Over the entire apple-growing season, photosynthesis rates of apple trees were significantly lower in the organic treatment than in the control, and this photosynthetic differences were larger in July and August. Photosynthesis-related parameters such as stomatal conductance and transpiration behaved similarly to photosynthesis. The leaf area in the organic treatment was significantly smaller ($24.7cm^2$) than that in the control treatment ($30.7cm^2$). Organic leaves contained significantly less Chl. a ($15.5mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$) than did control leaves ($17.6mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$). Fruit yield per tree was significantly lower in the organic treatment (18.8 kg) than in the control (24.5 kg), because organic fruits experienced a higher rate of disease infection such as white rot (Botryosphaeria dothidae) and bitter rot (Glomerella cingulata) than did control fruits. Organic fruits had high flesh firmness but less color development (lower Hunter's a values). In this experiment, the pest control program with frequent applications of organic fungicides showed negative effects on photosynthesis and disease infection on leaves and fruits, and thus reduce the fruit quality and yield in 'Ryoka'/M.26 apple trees.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.300-304
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• 2001

Apple is the most economically important fruit in Korea. The suspected viroid disease of dapple apple was found in apple fruits cultivated in Kyungpook province. Symptoms begin in mid-July as small circular spots, which stand out against the background color on the young fruit. Dappling of the fruit becomes more intense and easier to detect as the fruit approaches maturity; the affected spots remain yellowish as the fruit matures. no leaf or bark syndromes have been associated with this disease. The infected fruits are downgraded considerably during quality grading. The low molecular weight RNA containing viroid RNA molecules were extracted from the peels of the apples with dapple symptoms. The RNA molecules were extracted from the apples using Qiagen column chromatography. The purified RNAs were used for the synthesis of cDNA with RT-PCR. The PCR products were then ligated into a pGEM-T Easy vector, cloned and sequenced. The sequence of the viroid RNA molecule shows 331 nucleotides with one base difference ("G" insertion between the position of 133 and 134) compared with that of the Apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd) reported by Hashimoto and Koganezawa in Japan. This is the first report on the occurrence of the ASSVd in apple trees cultivated in Korea, as well as the identification of a new Korean strain of the ASSVd.the ASSVd.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 1999

In this study, questionnaire were made to environment-friendly producers of apples regarding farm management methods in low-input production method. utilizing organic materials, production and marketing of apples with lower agricultural chemical residues. Besides, five apples farms were visited to find out their management situation by employing the low-input production method in order to protect the environment as well as consumer's health. Those five low-input apple farms were scattered in Kyungbuk, Chungnam, and Chonnam Provinces, There were not many low-input apple farms across the nation from the beginning and, as a result, increasing the sample size was basically very difficult. Most of these farms were using 140hrs of labor per 10a, of which 30hrs in pre-season management, 25hrs in plowing and weed control, 15hrs in disease and pest control, 20hrs in harvest and marketing and 50hrs in miscellaneous activities. Relatively, pest control takes much time in that they would spray pesticides 7-10 times a season to control the apple disease, 9 times on the average. The average gross revenue of low-input apple farms was about \2,000,000/10a, and their average yield was 2,000kg/10a, which are 25% and 13% lower, respectively, than the ordinary apple production case. This means the low-input farmers are inefficient in marketing their products. On the other hand, their production costs were 20.4% higher than the ordinary apple farms on the average. Since the imported foreign fruits including apples must use various agricultural chemicals on their way to the export markets, the domestic low-input apples have competitive edge over them in therms of food safety. In order to improve the low-input apple industry, active cooperation is needed among the producers, government and researchers more than ever. Among other things, production cost reduction and quality improvement with lower chemical residues are part of the urgent matters to be done.

• Mycobiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.200-205
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• 2011

Marssonina coronaria associated with apple blotch disease causes severe premature defoliation, and is widely distributed in Korea. Thirteen isolates were collected from orchards located in Gyeongbuk Province from 2005~2007. All isolates displayed over 99.6% and 99.2% sequence similarity to each other in internal transcribed spacer regions and partial sequences of 28S rDNA, respectively. The isolates were phylogenetically closely related to Chinese isolates. Selected isolates did not differ in their pathogenicity. The optimum conditions for fungal growth were $20^{\circ}C$ and pH 6 on peptone potato dextrose agar (PPDA). Peptone and mannose were the best nitrogen and carbon source, respectively. Fungal growth was better on PPDA than on common potato dextrose agar. This study provides valuable information for integrated disease management program and facilitates the routine culturing of M. coronaria.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.222-228
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• 2020

Erwinia amylovora, a causal bacterium of fire blight disease, is registered as a prohibited quarantine pathogen in Korea. To control the disease, the government should diagnose the disease, dig and bury the host trees when fire blight occurs. Fire blight was the first reported in 43 orchards of Anseong, Cheonan, and Jecheon in 2015, and 42.9 ha of host trees were eradicated. However, the disease spread to eleven cities, so that 348 orchards and 260.4 ha of host trees were eradicated until 2019. Fire blight of Asian pear occurred mainly in the southern part of Gyeonggi, and Chungnam province, on average of 29±9.2 orchards per year. And the age of the infected trees were mostly 20-30 years old. In apple trees, the disease occurred mainly in the northern part of Gyeonggi, Gangwon, and Chungbuk province, on average of 41±57.6 orchards per year, increased highly in 2018 and 2019. The age of infected apple trees were under 20 years old. Therefore, because the disease spread rapidly in young apple trees, spraying control agents to the trees in a timely manner and removing infected trees quickly are important to prevent the spread of fire blight in the orchard of immature trees.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2020

Recently, the severe dieback of apple trees resulting from soil-borne diseases has occurred in South Korea. The casual agents of dieback were surveyed on 74 apple orchards that had been damaged nationwide in 2016-2019. The number of apple orchards affected alone by Phytophthora rot, violet root rot, and white root rot was 31, 34, and 3, respectively. Also, the total number of mixed infection orchards was 6. Out of 9,112 apple trees affected by dieback, the trees damaged by Phytophthora rot, violet root rot, and white root rot were 3,332, 3,831, and 44, respectively. Moreover, the total number of mixed infection apple trees was 1,905. The provinces mainly affected were Gyeongnam, Gyeongbuk, Chungbuk, and Jeonbuk. The survey on these infected apple orchards will be available to form management strategy for the dieback that had been increased by soil-borne fungal pathogens.

• Plant Disease and Agriculture
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.46-49
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• 1999

Bacterial blight occurred on the flowers, leaves, twigs and branches of apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh) in Chunchon, Kangwon-Do. Infected flowers and leaves turned brownish black, and they were fallen down or remained hanging in the trees. Under humid conditions during postblossom period, the casual bacterium spreaded along twigs and killed them. However, killing of branches was very rare. The symptoms on apple trees were very similar to symptoms of fire blight. But the causal organism isolated from the lesions was identified as Pseudomonas syringae based on physiological and chemical characteristics. This is the first described bacterium that causes apple shoot blight in Korea.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.439-446
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• 2008

A fungicidal spray program for effective control of three major apple diseases in Korea (white rot, bitter rot, and Marssonina blotch) was developed. This was based on our previous studies showing that application of ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors (EBIs) in early or mid-August can eradicate white rot infection in fruit and that some protective fungicides show after-infection activity against white rot. The basic spray program focused on control of white rot, the main target disease, and the fungicides were sprayed at 15-day intervals from petal fall to late August using fungicides that show after-infection and EBI activity. The basic spray program was modified over 4 successive years to improve control efficacy against bitter rot and Marssonina blotch, which sometimes cause as much damage as white rot. Modifications to the regime were made every year by replacing one fungicide in the basic program at a specific spraying time. Substitution of only one fungicide in the spray program, even early in the growing season, greatly influenced the final disease incidence at harvest. Applying this principle, a moderately efficient spray program for cv. Fuji that increased the spray interval from 10 to 15 days and thus reduced the number of sprays required per crop season was developed.