BIOASSAY TO DETERMINE CHERRY ROOTSTOCK TOLERANCE TO `BACTERIAL CANKER' CAUSED BY PSEUDOMONAS SYRINGAE PV SYRINGAE

An excised twig assay was developed to evaluate cherry geno-types for their tolerance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae. One-year-old wood was collected at monthly intervals from October until January of `Royal Ann', `Corum', and a number of cherry rootstock. The rootstock included; F/12–1 and Giessen (GI) and M × M selections. A 2-cm incision (“^”-shaped flap) was made on each twig. A 20-μl droplet of inoculum or water was placed onto each incision. The inoculum was prepared with one avirulent (K4) and three virulent strains (W4N54, AP 2 , B 15 ) concentrations (10 5 , 10 6 , or 10 7 cfu). Inoculated twigs were placed in test tubes and incubated at 15C in high relative humidity for 3 weeks. After incubation, twigs were evaluated for gummosis production (0–3, 0 = no gummosis), incision browning (1–4, 1 = yellow pith), and callus production (0–1, 0 = no callus). The concentration of bacterial suspension had no effect on symptom development. No gummosis or browning was observed on twigs inoculated with water or the avirulent strain. Based on the gummosis and browning ratings, rootstock M × M 2, M × M 39, M × M 60, GI 148-1, GI 154-2, and GI 154-4 were found to be resistant to these three strains of P. syringae in this assay. Root-stock F 12-1, GI 169–15, GI 172–9, and GI 173-9 were found to be tolerant.