FIVE YEARS OF FIRE BLIGHT IN ISRAEL

Erwinia amylovora was recorded for the first time in Israel in 1985 from a young (6-year old) pear orchard at Rosh Pinna, the upper Jordan valley, the Galilee. Within three weeks of the discovery, fire blight was noticed in four other pear orchards in the Galilee and in three pear orchards in the southern coastal plain, about 200 km south of the Galilee. During the summer of 1985, Erwinia amylovora was found in two apple orchards in the Galilee.

With detection of this aggressive new disease, we were faced with the dilemma what procedures to use to contain the spread of Erwinia amylovora. The initial impulse was to eradicate the first infected orchards where fire blight was noticed. This idea was abandoned when additional contaminated orchards were found during May and June 1985.

In April 1986, the disease was detected at eight new sites scattered in the country, including a pear orchard in the Negev desert in the south. Fire blight infections were also noticed in a quince orchard. The spring of 1987 was not favorable for fire blight, resulting in very low incidence of the disease in previously infected pear orchards. Nevertheless, in the Negev, fire blight infections were found in six new sites : three pear orchards and three apple orchards, planted with early apple cultivars (‘Anna’, ‘Ein-Shemmer’ and ‘Slor’).

In 1988 Erwinia amylovora caused heavy infections in pear orchards : in the north on site in the valley of Jezrael and in three orchards located in a new region for fire blight - the northern coastal plain and in the south the disease was noticed in two pear orchards infected in the past. The spring of 1989 was not favorable for the disease, resulting in very low incidence of the disease in some of the orchards from which Erwinia amylovora had been noticed in previous years.