Resistance of Raspberry Cultivars to Fire Blight

Abstract

Twenty-five cultivars of red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) and one purple raspberry (R. occidentalis L. × R. idaeus L.) were evaluated for their resistance to fire blight caused by Erwinia amylovora (Burr.) Winslow et al. Actively growing raspberry cane tips were wound inoculated with three isolates of the pathogen and disease development was assessed over 17 days. Three methods of evaluating resistance were used: area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC), a weighted AUDPC called the area under the disease severity curve (AUDSC), and lesion length. A wide range of resistance levels was observed, but no cultivars were symptomless. Primocane-fruiting cultivars tended to be more resistant than floricane-fruiting ones. Of the three E. amylovora isolates used in this study, one was significantly more virulent than the other two, but no cultivar × isolate interaction was detected.