Behavioral and electroantennogram responses of plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), adults were tested for several methanolic plant extracts and organically approved insecticides. Plant extracts were evaluated for their potential as antifeedants or oviposition deterrents. These extract responses were also compared to those elicited by the non-neurotoxic, o...

Pollen flow from a 0.46 ha plot of genetically engineered (GE) Prunus domestica located in West Virginia, USA was evaluated from 2000-2010. Sentinel plum trees were planted at distances ranging from 132 to 854 m from the center of the GE orchard. Plots of mixed plum varieties and seedlings were located at 384, 484 and 998 m from the GE plot. Bee hives (Apis mellifera) were dispersed between the...

Plum pox virus (PPV) is the causal agent of Sharka disease. Since its discovery, Sharka has been considered as a calamity in plum orchards. PPV is present worldwide in many Prunus species, causing great economic losses. In highly susceptible plum varieties, such as Požegača, PPV causes a premature fruit drop and reduces fruit quality, which leads to total yield loss. Eight PPV strains (PPV-M, P...

The plum curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is a key pest of peaches, Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, in North America. We evaluated the effectiveness of two widely used trap types (pyramid versus Circle traps) and commercially available synthetic lures for monitoring the pest in two peach orchards in Alabama during 2008 and 2009. The lures evaluated alone or in ...

Plum fruit has a short shelf life with a rapid deterioration in quality after harvest. The primary goal of this study is to investigate and compare the effect of putrescine and salicylic acid on quality properties and antioxidant activity of plum during storage. The plum fruits (cv. 'Santa Rosa') were harvested at the mature ripe stage, and dipped in different concentrations of putrescine (1, 2...

Grafting is the most important means of breeding peach, plum, apricot, and other fruit trees, selection rootstock crucial to quality grafting yield products. The traditional commonly used peach susceptible root-knot nematode infections, resulting in a decreased yield, while variety cherry plum rootstocks, Mirabolano 29C, resistant nematode. In this study, infection experiments on seedlin...