In a study of New York state apple orchards, Cornell plant pathologists have identified a new fungal pathogen that causes bitter rot disease in apples.
Also, a second related fungus known to cause rot disease in other fruits was found for the first time in apples.
The study, “Identification and Characterization of Colletotrichum Species Causing Apple Bitter Rot in New York and Description of C. noveboracense sp. nov.,” was published July 6 in the journal Scientific Reports.
“We were shocked by what we found, just dumbfounded,” said Srdjan Acimovic, a senior extension associate at the Hudson Valley Research Laboratory (part of Cornell AgriTech) and the paper’s senior author. “We found these two species, one that has never been described before and one that has been described before but never on this host.”
Both pathogens belong to the genus Colletotrichum, which contains 189 species of fungi that cause devastating rot diseases in a wide variety of fruit crops, including banana, strawberry, citrus, avocado, papaya, mango and apple.
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