Fire blight is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Erwinia amylovora. E. amylovora can be detected in and on plant tissue in small quantities within a short time using a specific quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay (Weißhaupt et al., 2016; Hinze et al., 2016).
The fire blight pathogen infects a group of Rosaceae (apple, pear, quince, hawthorn, cotoneaster, etc.). Phytosanitary measures (pruning of infected shoots or removal of infected plants) to reduce the pathogen load in your orchard and the surrounding area are essential for successfully controlling the pathogen.
The fire blight pathogen is frequently detected on and within plant parts without visible symptoms. This so-called latent infection in shoots, buds, or mummified fruit, or epiphytic colonization on flowers, indicates a potential risk to the orchard that can only be determined through appropriate laboratory diagnosis.
So if you would like to know whether the symptoms found on your plant were caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora, or whether the pathogen is present in a latent or epiphytic state in your orchard or in purchased nursery stock, please send us samples (flowers, shoots, mummified fruit, or bark) for analysis using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR).
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