Guests: Kirsten Hannam, Jesse MacDonald and Hao Xu from the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland Research & Development Center

Rapid decline and death of apple and stone fruit trees has been observed in Canada over the last decade. To date, no single pathogen has been identified as the direct cause of these disorders, but researchers believe the “tipping point” in the issue is climate extremes. 

In this episode, host Samantha Charlton is joined by researchers from the Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada in Summerland that have been working with BC tree fruit growers to understand the causes and management solutions for sudden apple decline.  Weakened water transport capacity in the dwarfing rootstocks, particularly at the graft union, combined with extreme heat and drought conditions seem to be major contributing factors. They’ll discuss the multi-disciplinary work needed to find answers, the importance of grower involvement throughout the stages of research and the “toolbox” being developed to help growers better respond to these challenges. 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Summerland Research and Development Centre is on the traditional, unceded territories of theNlaka'pamux and Syilx tmixʷ (Okanagan) Peoples.

Attribution

Producers and interdisciplinary team of researchers find answers on sudden apple decline in the BC Okanagan, Presentation by AAFC Research Scientists, Kirsten Hannam, Jesse MacDonald and Hua Xu © Her Majesty the Queen 2022, licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0

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