Abstract

The introductory chapter in this book, the first to approach the subject in 20 years, paints a grim picture of an important disease that continues to spread and cause serious economic damage. The disease continues to spread geographically, and the alleged detection in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne highlights the necessity to distinguish between disease symptoms and unambiguous identification of the causal organism.

Nevertheless, the insidious progression of the level (?) playing field of the World Trade Organisation will see increasing movement of apples and pears from fire blight-infected areas to regions and countries where the pathogen does not presently occur. Thus, this book is of importance to all plant bacteriologists and pome fruit pathologists regardless of the status of E. amylovora in their country.

Fire blight has been studied for well over 100 years and despite great advances in knowledge of the pathogen and the disease it causes, fire blight still causes major losses to apple and pear growers. Variation in incidence and severity of fire blight are characteristic of this disease and it is not known why E. amylovora causes fire blight or why only some species in the family Rosaceae are susceptible.

The dust cover claims the book to be a definitive reference; this is certainly matched by the contents. The book is a collection of chapters written by scientists with considerable experience with fire blight. It is divided into three parts covering The Disease, The Pathogen, and Control. The distribution of chapters between ‘The Disease’ and ‘The Pathogen’ is a little arbitrary and the order of chapters in part 1 appears to be random. This is not a problem if they are meant to be read in isolation but a more coherent development of an understanding of fire blight would be achieved by reading chapters in the order 3, 2, 5, 4.

It is a book that should not be limited in readership to those in the scientific community. The three sections are covered in depth; sections 1 and 3 would appeal to a wide readership while the section on the pathogen is of more limited accessibility to those with an interest in genetics and biochemistry. Thus, orchardists, horticulturalists and farm advisers will find much of interest in this book. Each chapter has numerous subdivisions and finishes with a conclusion or summary. State-of-the-art knowledge is summarised and deficiencies in information or techniques are acknowledged. The standard of editing is high and the physical presentation of the book is excellent, maintaining the high standards set by CABI Publishing. The reproduction of the colour photographs is excellent although, for the reader not familiar with the disease, a few figures would be markedly improved by addition of arrows to highlight the area being targeted in the caption.

The pathogen section is followed by chapters on chemical and biological control, resistance breeding and risk assessment models. The book concludes with a comprehensive account on integrated orchard and nursery management.

Overall, this is an excellent text that should be found on the shelves of all people interested in this complex and important disease. The readership should also include orchardists although the price (65 pounds, $US120) may be a deterrent to wider exposure in this segment of the market.

Eric Cother

NSW Agriculture, Orange