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REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1583406

Occurrence, Etiology, and Management of Apple Canker Disease: The Role of Stress Factors

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (ICAR), Karnal, Haryana, India
  • 2Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Himachal Pradesh, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Canker diseases pose a significant threat to apple orchards worldwide, leading to reduced orchard productivity. The disease typically manifests as sunken, necrotic lesions on trunks, limbs, or twigs, often accompanied by bark cracking, gumming, vascular discoloration, and branch dieback, which may eventually girdle limbs and reduce tree vigor. Leaf symptoms include yellowing and necrotic or frog-eye spots, while fruits may develop white or black rots, collectively reducing yield and fruit quality. Several pathogens, once regarded as secondary invaders, have emerged as primary pathogens by employing infection strategies such as wound entry, seasonal sporulation, and systemic colonization. Adverse conditions including drought, frost, pruning injuries, and nutrient imbalances exacerbate disease development by weakening host defenses and enhancing pathogen virulence. Recent advances in molecular diagnostics and genomics have enabled the identification of key resistance-related genes including MdCN11, MdSOS2L1, and MdNAC72, offering deeper insights into host-pathogen interactions and informing resistance breeding. This study highlights integrated management strategies involving the use of resistant rootstocks (e.g., Geneva series), proper pruning techniques, immediate wound treatment, copper-based fungicides, strict orchard sanitation, and balanced irrigation and nutrition. Together, these approaches provide a holistic and sustainable framework for reducing canker incidence and preserving the long-term health and productivity of apple orchards. The review offers a comprehensive synthesis of major canker-causing pathogens affecting apple, focusing on their distribution, host range, infection biology, and the influence of environmental stress factors on disease dynamics

Keywords: Tree vitality, Pathogen identification, Disease Management, Pruning and wound treatment, Stress factors

Received: 25 Feb 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 ., khosla, Sharma, Gupta and SHARMA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mukesh ., Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research (ICAR), Karnal, 132001, Haryana, India

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