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Host Resistance To Monilinia Vaccinii-Corymbosi In Flowers And Fruits Of Highbush Blueberry, Jeffery S. Lehman, Suzu Igarashi, Peter V. Oudemans

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi, the causal agent of mummy berry disease, infects blueberry flowers via the gynoecial pathway. To describe the expression of host resistance in highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), fungal growth in the styles and colonization of the locules were compared among five blueberry cultivars in a series of controlled greenhouse experiments. Styles were harvested 1 and 4 days postinoculation, and the length colonized by hyphae was determined using fluorescence microscopy. At 8 weeks after inoculation, fruit were harvested and scored for the presence of hyphae in the locules. The infection frequency of styles ranged from 0.33 to 0.71, and only …