MANAGEMENT OF MONILINIA BLIGHT IN WILD BLUEBERRIES (VACCINIUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM AIT.): PRESENT CONCERNS AND FUTURE OPTIONS

Fungicide efficacy field trials were conducted at two commercial wild blue-berry fields during the 2009 growing season to address concerns over: (i) the possible tolerance of the fungal pathogen (Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi (Reade) Honey) causing Monilinia blight or mummy berry to presently registered fungicides; (ii) increasing scrutiny of specific fungicides by end users; and (iii) the challenge of trying to apply a curative fungicide in a timely manner after an infection period has likely occurred.
Results indicated that the active ingredients propiconazole (Topas^® and Orbit^®), prothioconazole (Proline^®), and penthiopyrad were very effective in suppressing Monilinia blight, tolerance to propiconazole did not appear to be present at the sites examined, and the use of multiple active ingredients with different modes of action and persistence needs to be further explored.
In addition, the treatments had a profound influence on berry yield with the propiconazole, prothioconazole and penthiopyrad treatments producing yields that were 73.6, 111, and 112% greater than the untreated control respectively at the Nova Scotia site.
However, these yield results need to be viewed with caution given the known suppressive attributes of some of these fungicides to other diseases present during treatment application (e.g. Septoria).

XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on Berries: From Genomics to Sustainable Production, Quality and Health

D.C. Percival , E.F. Beaton

lowbush blueberry, disease suppression, harvestable berry yield

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2012.926.84