Epidemiologic Study of Pear Scab: Early Infections of Pear Fruit

Scab is one of the key parasites in pome fruit. The disease is caused by the ascomycete Venturia inaequalis and V. pirina on apple and pear, respectively. Although they are two distinct species, their biological cycle is mainly the same. One distinction can be made, i.e., the appearance of twig scab on pears. Until now, most research concerning scab disease is performed on apples and as such, the disease management of pear scab is based on that of apple. However, we believe that the timing of the fungicides to control pear scab can be better positioned and that less fungicide spraying may be needed to control pear scab. For that reason an IWT (Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology)-funded research project to study pear scab in more detail during four years was performed. During this research infection moments of fruit were studied in more detail. Out of this research it became clear that on pears infections of fruit appear early in the season with delayed expression of the symptoms.