Survey of Mid-Atlantic apple orchards for cultivar-specific relationships among insect pest prevalence, canopy conditions, and fruit quality traits

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Commodities

• Fruits: apples

Practices

• Crop Production: varieties and cultivars
• Education and Training: focus group, on-farm/ranch research
• Pest Management: cultural control, field monitoring/scouting, integrated pest management
• Production Systems: agroecosystems

Commercial apple orchards in the Mid-Atlantic typically contain multiple cultivars with different fruit flavors and maturity dates within each site to increase market opportunities. However, for this production system, insect prevalence differs among cultivars within an orchard, adding to the challenge of managing the large pest complex, including, brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), San Jose scale (SJS), plum curculio (PC), codling moth (CM), and oriental fruit moth (OFM), spanning the entire growing season. Although host preferences of PC, CM, and OFM have been investigated, results of those studies conducted more than a decade ago are likely inapplicable to pest management under current climate conditions and with new apple cultivars grown in the Northeast. Additionally, some cultivar-specific physiological disorders appear only in apples produced in the Mid-Atlantic. To address the issues unique to Mid-Atlantic apple production, we propose to determine cultivar-specific prevalence of insect-caused fruit injury in the classic cultivars as well as new premium varieties in two partner farmers’ mixed orchards in Maryland. We also aim to systematically document cultivar-dependent tree canopy density, fruit finish disorders, and fruit physiochemical properties. This project will generate new information fundamental to developing innovative IPM strategies for individual apple cultivars of economic importance in the Mid-Atlantic, thereby reducing grower input, increasing profitability, and promoting ecological sustainability. Furthermore, research findings will identify correlations of insect damage, canopy condition, fruit disorder, and fruit quality trait across cultivars, which will help develop optimized cultural practices to reduce insect pest prevalence while maintaining superior fruit quality.

This project seeks to:

1. Monitor canopy vigor and insect-caused fruit damage of apple cultivars during the growing season.
2. Assess fruit injury caused by insect pests and quality traits of apple cultivars at harvest.
3. Determine apple cultivar-specific and cross-cultivar relationships among canopy conditions, fruit quality traits, and insect prevalence.