Survival of pathogens after dormancy in apple tree twigs indicates potential risk as source of inoculum

Several diseases are difficult to control specially in subtropical regions and perennial hosts where the pathogen survive easily within the plant. The aim of this study was to identify which pathogens are surviving after end of one season and at the beginning of the next season to inform which pathogens represent potential risk as primary inoculum to the next season. Survival of pathogens on apple tree twigs was evaluated during dormancy and on beginning of vegetative growth in four orchards located in the two main apple production regions: Palmas and metropolitan region of Curitiba, in Paraná State, Brazil. For this purpose, 10 cm long asymptomatic twigs were collected from 10 randomly selected plants, 24 twigs per plant. Half of the twigs were left directly (without disinfection) in humid chambers for 30 days at 25ºC. The other half of the twigs were disinfected and kept in a freezer for 12 hours at -16ºC by the Over Night Freezing Incubation Technique (Onfit) and then kept in a humid chamber for 30 days at 25ºC. The fungi Colletotrichum sp., Botryosphaeria sp., Alternaria sp., and Fusarium sp. were detected in the two sampled dates and methodologies in all evaluated regions. Neonectria ditissima was only detected in both orchards from Palmas. The genera found surviving on twigs were confirmed molecularly by BLASTn and were pathogenic in wounded fruits from the cultivar ‘Gala’. Our results indicate that pathogens are surviving in orchards after winter treatment and throughout the apple season, being potential sources of inoculum for infections in flowers and fruits, where the pathogens detected cause important diseases as bitter rot, Neonectria fruit rot, white and black rots, and possibly cause Alternaria and Fusarium rots which have not been extensively studied in Brazil.