Identification of Monilinia spp. from stone fruits in the Marche region of Italy

Brown rot is the most important disease of stone fruits, causing significant losses both in the field and after harvest. The main casual agents are the fungi Monilinia laxa, M. fructigena, and M. fructicola. M. laxa and M. fructigena are widespread in Italy, the first one mainly on stone fruit and the second one on pome fruit. M. fructicola is a quarantine pathogen and its spread in Europe is strictly monitored. During the vegetative season of 2018, isolations were carried out in several stone fruit orchards in the Marche region of Italy. Samples of decayed stone fruit were collected and analyzed using morphological and molecular diagnostic criteria to identify the species responsible for the disease. Most of the isolates from peach, sweet cherry, and apricot trees collected in both the northern and southern part of the Marche region were identified as M. laxa, while a few of the isolates from peach trees in the northern Marche region were identified as M. fructicola. No isolates of M. fructigena were found in the collected samples. Further investigations are needed to monitor the actual distribution of the primary species of Monilinia spp. in stone fruit orchards in central-eastern Italy.