Aggressiveness of Monilinia spp. towards detached plum fruit

Stone fruit species are by far the most important for total fruit production in Serbia, with plum
\nbeing the most important. Over the last five years, total annual plum production amounted to
\nover 500,000 tons, placing Serbia among the three top producers in the world and the first in
\nEurope. However, plum is severely affected by brown rot disease that occurs every year, resulting
\nin significant losses. Monilinia laxa and Monilinia fructigena are widely distributed brown rot causal
\nagents, with first reports of their presence and significance in Serbia originating from the middle of
\nthe 20th century. Monilinia fructicola, the most destructive pathogen of Monilinia spp., has recently
\nbeen introduced into Serbia. Its spreading in stone fruit orchards has already been observed. The
\naim of this research was to compare aggressiveness of newly introduced M. fructicola with well-established
\nM. laxa and M. fructigena species towards plum fruit, in order to assess the potential of
\nM. fructicola to repress and replace the other two species in Serbian plum orchards. Unwounded
\nand wounded fruits of two plum cultivars at three developmental stages were inoculated with M.
\nfructicola, M. laxa, and M. fructigena. Seven days after inoculation, the fruits were visually examined
\nfor symptoms of brown rot. A CART model, describing the probability of infection establishment
\nwas constructed. The results showed that wounding of fruits, developmental stage of fruits and
\nspecies of the pathogen had significant effects on the incidence of brown rot, while the effect of
\ncultivar was not significant.