Fruit plants also fight against viruses and pests

They are not classified as “H1/N1” influenza, measles caused by the “Mobillivirusor” or smallpox caused by “Variola virus”, such as infectious diseases affecting humans or other mammals. They have other common names, which tie in with the rural traditions, such as “Witches broom” (scientific name “Candidatus phytoplasma mali”) or “Fire blight” (Erwinia Amylovora). Sometimes they are caused by fungi, like in the case of “Apple scab” trough the “Ventura Inaequalis” fungus, or by bacteria like the “European Stone Fruit Yellows Phytoplasma”. Common to them are the harmful effects on the organisms concerned and the Latin names by which science classifies them.

Wilhelm Jelkmann, Director of the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI Dossenheim, Germany) since 2008, told the participants of the international conference "Apples in the World" at Interpoma 2018 about the latest state of the art in the prevention and control of apple pests, one of the most important fruits for our diet. With great scientific competence and many years of experience in this field - the JKI also has its own experimental plantation in Kirschgartshausen - Professor Jelkmann has gone into the details of the discipline, which is more about biotechnology than just agriculture.
In fact, the methods used today are increasingly intelligent and are based on laboratory research and scientific study of the natural environment in which the orchards are located. Against the Mycroplasma like organism and the European Stone Fruits Yellows Phytoplasma are used super-selective traps, which work on an infochemical and nanotechnological basis. 

Against the Fire blight, which is transmitted by bacteria, hosted in up to 70 species of vector insects, researches focuses on a natural antagonist, “Bacillus subtilis”. In other cases one works with yeast preparations modified in the laboratory, for example against the Apple scab.
For struggling against bigger parassites like the Brown marmorated stink bug (Halymorpha halys) – an insect, which has recently arrived from Asia and is attacking over 300 plants species, including all the for the economy important fruit trees – experiments are conducted with a natural antagonist, the "Samurai Wasp" (Trissolcus Japonicus), which lays its eggs in the eggs of the bug and causes its death.

To discover more secrets of the fight against fruit plant pests, download the presentation by Professor Jelkmann (only in German).