THE SYSTEM USED IN BELGIUM TO MONITOR ERWINIA AMYLOVORA (BURRILL) WINSLOW ET AL.

By ministerial decree the arboricultural centres of Beernem, Maldegem, Wetteren and Lesdain, as well as the fruit tree production region round St. Truiden are to be considered areas which should be specially protected and regularly inspected. In these areas host plants of E. amylovora were selected at a distance of 5 km of each other. During the growing season these host plants were sampled every 14 days, in order to detect the epiphytic presence of E. amylovora before symptoms are visible.

Since it has already been proved that the number of bacteria detected by immunofluorescence microscopy is directly correlated to the inoculum on the plant surface, the evolution of populations can be followed up, which permits prediction of epidemic infections.

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