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European chancre threatens apple groves in southern Brazil
Oct. 13, 2016
Apple production in Brazil involves nearly 2,700 farmers who harvested over one million tons of apples during the 2016 crop, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. Two-thirds of the farmers in the country are from the state of Santa Catarina, the largest apple producing state. In Espírito Santo, which also has a significant production, apple producers harvested 650,000 tons of the fruit.
Though the apple production represent a successful productive chain in Brazil, the sector face a threat from a new disease, according to the Federation of Agriculture and Livestock of the State of Santa Catarina (Faesc). Earlier, Brazil had been free of the main plagues that struck apple trees, such as the coddling moth, which was an advantage for the competitiveness in the international market, but this scenario might be changing due to European chancre.
This fungal disease, which causes great damage in the branch or main trunk of the tree, is harming groves located in the south of the country. In Rio Grande do Sul, the first state that registered an occurrence of the plague, the European chancre already devastated many apple trees in the region of Vacaria, having an incidence of 90% infestation.
According to Leonardo Araújo, head of research into European chancre at the Agricultural Research and Extension Company of Santa Catarina, the European chancre has also reached Santa Catarina, where more than half of the Brazilian apple crop is grown. Of the 1,800 groves in the state, 121 had been reported with infestations of the disease.
Araújo explains that the European chancre can decimate groves because the disease spreads very quickly. “If there is one tree contaminated in one year, in the next year there might be ten, then one hundred, and after that, a thousand trees. If the producer does not do anything, some 10% of the plants in the groves can die per year,” he says.
Araújo added that another factor is the yields of the groves, which are significantly reduced when there is evidence of European chancre. In healthy groves, the average productivity is 40 tons per hectare, but in groves where there is European chancre infestation, this number falls to 20 tons per hectare. “When the yields fall, the apples do not pay the production costs, and the producer ends up abandoning the area,” notes Araújo.
Source: AgroNews
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