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Ecology and Epidemiology

Availability and Dispersal of Ascospores and Conidia of Botryosphaeria in Peach Orchards. P. L. Pusey, Plant pathologist, USDA-ARS, Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 87, Byron, GA 31008; Phytopathology 79:635-639. Accepted for publication 4 January 1989. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1989. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-79-635.

Spore dispersal of three Botryosphaeria spp. from peach prunings and from diseased trees was studied from 1984 to 1985. Airborne ascospores of B. dothidea from prunings were at peak levels in the spring. Ascospores of B. obtusa and B. rhodina were indistinguishable and were detected at relatively high levels in most months, depending on the year. Discharge of ascospores occurred during or soon after periods of wetness. Waterborne ascospores and conidia were detected in rainwater runoff from prunings and diseased scaffold limbs of trees throughout most of the year. Trap catches for spores of all three species were generally low during December and January and from August to October. Waterborne spores of B. dothidea were never detected in January and February. Conidia of B. dothidea made up the greatest proportion of the total waterborne spores collected from diseased trees and conidia of B. obtusa made up the greatest proportion of the total trapped from dead prunings.