Evaluation of Fire Blight (Erwinia amylovora) Disease Reaction of Pear Hybrid Combinations

Abstract

Fire blight caused by pathogenic bacterium Erwinia amylovora, is the serious disease of pear. Since there is no effective chemical management to this disease except antibiotic-type compounds, it is very important to improve new fire blight resistant cultivars. In this research, it was aimed to select and develop fire blight resistant pear types and to determine fire blight susceptibility levels of pear hybrids, obtained from different projects. Hybrid plants were inoculated by shoot injections twice each year. Evaluations were made through necrotic shoot rate and susceptibility levels of hybrids were determined. During the experiments, 7036 hybrid pear seedlings inoculated, and 12.28% of them were found as “very low susceptibility” (A), 3.62% as “low susceptibility” (B) classes.