Control and yield loss modelling of circular leaf spot of persimmon caused by Mycosphaerella nawae

• Published in: Annals of applied biology 2017-05, Vol.170 (3), p.391-404
• Main Authors: Bassimba, D.D.M., Mira, J.L., Sedano, M.E., Vicent, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crop loss; Diospyros kaki; disease management; fungicides; Pesticides
• ISSN: 0003-4746; 1744-7348
• DOI: 10.1111/aab.12343

ABSTRACT Symptoms of circular leaf spot of persimmon (CLSP), caused by Mycosphaerella nawae, consisted of necrotic spots on leaves, chlorosis and premature defoliation. Although CLSP is a foliar disease, early fruit maturation and abscission are frequently associated with the presence of lesions on leaves and defoliation, resulting in severe economic losses. Despite their importance for the design of efficient disease management programmes, quantitative relationships between CLSP incidence and yield loss are unknown. Therefore, fungicide efficacy trials were conducted during two consecutive years in Spain to induce different levels of disease severity, defoliation and yield loss. The effects of fungicide treatments on CLSP severity were analysed by ordinal logistic regression models. Relative yield loss values were regressed against the percentage of affected leaves or defoliated obtained at different evaluation dates. The disease had high negative impact and complete yield loss was observed in the absence of effective fungicide treatments. Preventive applications of pyraclostrobin, trifloxy‐strobin and mancozeb provided the best disease control and highest yields, up to 95.77 kg tree−1. An exponential relationship of CLSP incidence and defoliation with yield loss was found. In general, model fit and predictive ability was superior when defoliation, rather than incidence, was used as explanatory variable. The impact of defoliation on yield loss was higher in earliest evaluation dates, suggesting that early leaf abscission may be the main factor contributing to premature fruit drop and subsequent yield loss. Substantial yield losses were observed even with relatively low levels of CLSP incidence and defoliation. Therefore, it was not possible to define a critical action threshold for CLSP management based on foliar symptoms.