Research at Kearneysville Fruit Center Improves Apple Fire Blight Disease Management Worldwide

SUMMARY

A plant pathologist at West Virginia University’s Tree Fruit Research and Education Center has produced an improved computer program for forecasting infection periods of fire blight, a destructive bacterial disease of apples and pears in the United States and over 40 other countries. Losses from fire blight cost the tree fruit industry in West Virginia thousands of dollars in losses every year and epidemics of the disease can be devastating.

ISSUE

There used to be a pear industry in West Virginia and the adjacent mid-Atlantic region. That was before the bacterial disease fire blight became well established and wiped out all the susceptible pear varieties. Now the destructive pathogen is attacking our apples. For West Virginia’s tree fruit industry, fire blight is a major concern. Fruit diseases, including fire blight, cost the tree fruit industry well over a million dollars of losses annually.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE

Over the past several years, Dr. Alan Biggs, a plant pathologist at the WVU Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center, has conducted research to improve a fire blight prediction model called Maryblyt. The program was developed in the 1990’s but had not been modernized for today’s newer computer systems. Biggs, in cooperation with colleagues at Cornell University and the USDA, was the lead author of a series of scientific articles describing the improvements. The program predicts infection conditions so that control measures can be timed properly. Biggs and colleagues have been conducting research to address the biology, epidemiology and control of this disease.

IMPACT

"We've found that the infection conditions for fire blight can be predicted with confidence when using this improved program. In addition, there is no better tool for determining when disease symptoms will appear. That knowledge is the key to minimizing the impact of epidemics in years when the disease is widespread," Biggs said. He also noted that the program is used worldwide in areas where the disease is well established. Biggs’ goal is to develop an integrated approach to fruit disease management to reduce losses resulting from multiple diseases.

PRIMARY AREAS OF IMPACT

Research
Extension

FUNDING:

USDA Northeast IPM Grants Program
Hatch Act

COUNTIES:

The principal counties served are Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, and Hampshire (95% of the commercial fruit industry is in the state’s eastern panhandle)

CONTACT:

Dr. Alan R. Biggs
Professor of Plant Pathology, Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Extension Specialist
West Virginia University - Kearneysville Tree Fruit Research and Education Center
P.O. Box 609, Kearneysville, WV 25430

Phone: 304-876-6353
Fax: 304-876-6034