ASHS 2024 Conference

Phytopathogenic fungi can cause rots during cold storage leading to the loss of pear fruit and significant economic costs. Currently, all commercially available pear varieties are susceptible to postharvest rots. Genetic resistance to fruit rot pathogens including Penicillium expansum and Colletotrichum spp. has been identified in wild apple germplasm. The objective of this study was to evaluate diverse genotypes of European pears (Pyrus communis L.) for disease incidence during cold storage and evaluate susceptibility to prevalent phytopathogenic fungi by directly challenging fruit using a wound inoculation method. Fruit from 38 pear genotypes were harvested at maturity, then evaluated weekly for the presence of postharvest rots during cold storage. If rot was observed, the diseased fruits were removed from cold storage and fungal isolates were collected from fruit with disease symptoms. The identity of fungal isolates was determined based on morphology and genetic sequencing of marker genes including ITS and TEF1. After 12 weeks in cold storage, the incidence of rot ranged from 8.3% to 100%. Colletotrichum was the most prevalent genus isolated from the rotting pears. Twenty pear genotypes were directly challenged with P. expansum or C. fioriniae using a wound inoculation method on fruit that was harvested at commercial maturity. Five genotypes had significantly reduced disease development when challenged with P. expansum compared to susceptible varieties Gem and Bartlett. Four of these five genotypes also had significantly reduced disease development when challenged with C. fioriniae. One additional genotype was found to have significantly reduced disease development when challenged with C. fioriniae but was highly susceptible to P. expansum. These results will be a valuable resource for pear breeders and aid efforts to develop European pear varieties that have genetic resistance to fruit rot pathogens.