St. Paul, Minn. (January 9, 2004) The California pistachio industry produced approximately 300 million pounds of pistachios in 2002 and continues to grow each year at an impressive rate. However, plant pathologists with The American Phytopathological Society (APS) say a serious and devastating disease could put a definite halt to this relatively young industry.

According to Themis J. Michailides, plant pathologist at the University of California, Davis, this disease, panicle and shoot blight of pistachio, was first discovered in 1984 in a commercial orchard in the northern Sacramento Valley and has since become a disease of major importance for pistachios grown in California. "Yield losses from 40 to 100 percent were not uncommon in the orchards where the disease was discovered," said Michailides. "The destruction caused by this disease makes panicle and shoot blight the most serious threat to pistachio trees grown in California," he said.

Panicle and shoot blight is caused by Botryosphaeria dothidea, a fungus that causes diseases that are aggressive and very difficult to control. According to Michailides, the pistachio industry in California is based on a cultivar that is very susceptible to this particular fungus. "Because of the California pistachio's susceptibility to this fungus, panicle and shoot blight has the potential to reach epidemic levels in pistachio orchards in only a few years," he said.

To prevent such epidemics from occurring, and since some resistance to the disease exists in the present Pistacia germplasm, breeders need to work closely with plant pathologists to develop disease resistant varieties of the pistachio tree. In addition, Michailides also recommends growers remain proactive in their efforts to keep their orchards free from infection of the pathogen by conducting regular surveys, sanitation by pruning of possible infections, controlling insects, and following fungicide programs that were shown to control pa
'"/>

Contact: Amy Steigman
asteigman@scisoc.org
651-994-3802
American Phytopathological Society
9-Jan-2004

Page: 1 2
Related biology news :

1. Joslin Diabetes Center adds first affiliate in California at Irvine Medical Center
2. Dramatic decline of California native frog linked to introduced trout in mountain lakes
3. Researchers find no safe place to sit in California tick-infested forest
4. Scientists question reports of massive ant supercolonies in California and Europe
5. Southern Californians commonly misinformed about beach water quality, study finds
6. Physician experts available to speak on California fires and smoke inhalation
7. University of California, Riverside study dates our ancestors
8. Californias native grasses can be restored
9. University of California, Riverside to host spider experts
10. Proliferation of Argentine ants in California linked to decline in coastal horned lizards
11. On Californias Channel Islands, native predators became prey when feral pigs rearranged the food web