Abstract
Brown rot decay of stone and pome fruit caused by
Monilinia
spp. is an economically important disease. The main pathogens in Italy are the indigenous species
Monilinia laxa
and
M. fructigena,
and the invasive species
M. fructicola
. The presence of
M. fructicola
in Italy was reported for the first time in 2008 in Cuneo, Piedmont. Further records showed that
M. fructicola
spread and established rapidly in other regions of Italy. In South Tyrol, Europe's largest contiguous apple-growing area, the cultivation of stone fruit is an increasingly important agricultural branch for small-holder farmers of the mountainous areas. Up to now, it was unknown if
M. fructicola
is present and how
M. laxa
and
M. fructigena
are distributed. Therefore, plant protection strategies were applied without knowledge of the species present in the orchards. To detect the three
Monilinia
spp. on stone fruit trees and to determine their distribution, samples of fruit mummies were taken from scattered stone fruit trees and from sweet cherry orchards. A multiplex real-time PCR was applied to detect
Monilinia
spp. in the fruit mummies. The results showed the presence of
M. fructicola
for the first time in South Tyrol on three locations and that
M. laxa
was the predominant species, followed by
M. fructigena
.