Correlating light absorbance parameters in peach skin with susceptibility to streaking and association with rainwater components
Since first observed in 2003, peach skin streaking (PSS) has increasingly affected fruit production in the Southeast. Since 2017 we have documented the occurrence of peach skin streaking on 21 cultivars in South Carolina and symptoms have also been reported in Maryland and Pennsylvania. PSS seems to be linked to an unidentified causal agent mediated in rainwater with susceptibility closely related to the ripening status of maturing fruit. Over the course of the 2019 peach growing season, we collected rainwater at a South Carolina peach farm with a history of PSS and analyzed samples for chemical and physical property. Five cultivars were monitored for occurrence of PSS to associate specific rain events with symptom development in the field. PSS was observed in the field on one of the monitored and three additional cultivars between May and June, and five rain events coincided in time with symptom development. However, chemical, and physical properties from these rainwater samples were not significantly different from samples not associated with PSS in that time frame. Fruit of the five cultivars were also collected at 21, 14, 7 and 0 days before harvest, to determine light absorbance parameters, ΔA and color space, and to induce symptoms under laboratory conditions by treatment with ClO2. There were significant correlations between symptom development and light absorbance parameters illustrating how proneness to PSS increases during fruit maturation.