Effects of temperature and relative humidity on conidial germination and viability, colonization and sporulation of Monilinia fructigena

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of temperature and relative humidity (RH) on the in vitro germination and viability of conidia of the apple brown rot fungus (Monilinia fructigena), and on colonization and sporulation on detached fruits by M. fructigena. Conidia only germinated under near-saturation humidity (≥ 97% RH) and the rate of germination initially increased with temperature to a maximum at ≈23-25°C and then decreased. Conidia germinated rapidly - more than 70% of viable conidia had germinated within 2 h at 20 and 25°C. The rate of colonization on detached fruits increased log-linearly with increasing temperature. Sporulation on detached fruits was not observed at 5 or 25°C; sporulation appeared to be unaffected by either temperature (10-20°C) or RH (45-98%) once infection was established. Detached conidia remained viable for a long period of time, up to 20 days, the longest assessment time in this study, depending on storage temperature (10 or 20°C) and RH (45 or 85%). Temperature appeared to be more important than RH in affecting conidial viability. Low temperature and high RH resulted in reduced loss of conidial viability. Storage at 10°C and 85% RH for up to 20 days appeared not to affect conidial viability. These results indicate that environmental conditions during the main UK growing seasons are unlikely to be limiting factors for the development of brown rot on apple.