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Temporal and Quantitative Analyses of Stem Lesion Development and Foliar Disease Progression of Peach Rust in California

The development of rust epidemics caused by Tranzschelia discolor on leaves and stems of cling peach was studied in California orchards. Sporulating stems lesions were only detected from late March until July in 1997 and 1998. When rust was present in the fall, the quadratic equation Y = -82.51 + 1.97JD - 0.01JD² using Julian day (JD) described the incidence of sporulating lesions on stems of cv. Andross (R² = 0.73; P ≤ 0.001) in the following spring season. Late-season rust epidemics occurred in 1996 and 1997. Incidence of rust on leaves of cvs. Andross and Ross was <10% from April through July and 80 to 100% by October/November. In 1998, early-season epidemics developed with disease incidence at 28 to 56% by July/August in two cv. Andross orchards. No disease was observed during the 1999 growing season. Using linear regression analysis, logistic and exponential models best described the development of disease in 1996 and 1997, respectively. In contrast, the monomolecular model best described the disease in 1998. In an analysis of variance comparing disease progress curves on cv. Andross from 1996 to 1998, no significant differences in area under the disease progress curve and ρ were observed, whereas y_max was significantly different (P < 0.001). A repeated measures analysis indicated that in a cv. Andross orchard the year of the disease progress curve, time of sampling, and their interaction were highly significant (P < 0.01). This indicated a distinct difference between early- and late-season epidemics. Earlyseason development of rust on leaves occurred in years with ≥117.3 mm of total precipitation and maximum temperatures of ≤30.2°C in April to June.