First report of Erwinia amylovora fire blight in Belarus

Erwinia amylovora is a phytopathogenic bacterium that causes fire blight, an economically important disease of Rosaceae. Several isolates from pears and apples with fire blight symptoms from Belarus were identified as E. amylovora. All tested isolates were yellow and mucoid on MM2Cu medium, positive in levan production and showed pathogenicity in immature pear fruits. These isolates have identical total protein patterns with E. amylovora 1/79. The PCR with specific primers for E. amylovora harpin gene also gave positive results.