According to Jean Paul Joublan, an advisor to the Premium Fruits company, the rains and high humidity during the spring months in Chile could cause the cherries to develop brown rot more frequently. In fact, there are fruits of the 2023-2024 campaign harvest that are affected by both pathologies.
According to the expert, the cherries have a higher risk of being affected by splitting as the fruit begins to increase its sugars. "Producers universally accept that cherry splitting is caused by the fruit's absorption of water via its epidermis. The period during which the surface of the fruit remains moist determines part of the effect that the rain will have on the fruits. However, splitting is not necessarily related to the amount of water that enters the fruit: for example, the most resistant varieties can absorb more water than sensitive varieties before splitting. Splitting can even occur on days without rain, which would imply that there is a relationship between splitting and the humidity of the soil or the air," he added.
"The increase in temperature causes a greater sensitivity of the variety to splitting. Temperature acts on the permeability of membranes. The fruit's water absorption depends on the respiratory intensity. Thus, the number of split fruits increases with temperature regardless of the intensity of the rain. It is worth highlighting that in this case, the cherries that pass through the cold water of the hydro cooling do not split," stated Joublan.
Finally, "there is a negative correlation between wind speed and the presence of splitting. It's also worth noting that the fruits in an atmosphere with high relative humidity are more sensitive to splitting. The elasticity of the epidermis increases in situations of low relative humidity. This explains why there is a lower percentage of splitting when the rains take place after dry periods," the expert stated.
Brown rot is a disease caused by the fungus Monilia laxa Sacc. and Monilia fructicola more recently (2012).
The fruit's susceptibility increases in the second to third week prior to harvest; an increase that is associated with its higher sugar content. The healthy fruits that are in contact with sick fruits or the conidia that arrive by air are infected directly through their cuticle, natural openings (stomata), or wounds, the expert stated.
Source: mundoagro.cl