Studies on the Erwinia amylovora population in Israel
In Israel, fireblight (Erwinia amylovora – EPPO A2 quarantine pest) was detected for the first time in 1985 in a young pear orchard at Rosh Pinna in the upper Jordan Valley (EPPO RS 459, 1986). The disease was then observed in all pear-growing areas of the country as well as in apple and quince orchards. In 1994, a severe outbreak was also reported on loquat. The origin of fireblight in Israel is unclear, but the authors pointed out that in 1964 and again in 1982 severe outbreaks were reported in Egypt, and in 1984 fireblight was found in Cyprus. Studies were carried out in Israel on a collection of strains isolated from different varieties of pear, apple, loquat and quince isolated from various places in the country. These strains were characterized in respect to degree of virulence on several hosts, serological and molecular characters. Results showed that the population of E. amylovora in Israel is homogeneous. In addition, the Israeli strains were compared by RAPD with strains isolated from neighbouring countries (Egypt, Cyprus, Greece), and the amplification patterns obtained were indistinguishable. The authors pointed out that these results are in line with previous studies which showed that E. amylovora strains from fruit trees are homogeneous (but distinct from strains isolated from Rubus (EPPO RS 96/100)).
Sources
Manulis, S.; Kleitman, F.; Dror, O.; David, I.; Zutra, D. (1998) Characterization of the Erwinia amylovora population in Israel.
Phytoparasitica, 26(1), 39-46.