Occurrence and Etiology of Brown Apical Necrosis on Persian (English) Walnut Fruit

ABSTRACT In 1998, a severe fruit drop was observed in Italy, principally on cv. Lara Persian (English) walnut (Juglans regia). Dropped fruit showed a brown patch at the blossom end and blackening and rot of inner tissues. The disease, called brown apical necrosis (BAN), was investigated on fruit collected in Italy and France in 1999. In 2000, studies were carried out in three walnut orchards located in Italy and in France to substantiate the etiology of BAN. Isolations performed from inner diseased fruit tissues yielded several fungi, in decreasing frequency of isolation: species of Fusarium and Alternaria, and one species each of Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, and Phomopsis. However, only Fusarium spp. were recovered from stigmas of BAN-affected fruit. The fungi associated with BAN-diseased fruit and species composition differed among locations and over time, confirming results obtained in previous investigations. The species of Fusarium used in pathogenicity tests reproduced BAN-disease symptoms when ino...