Influence of Harvest Date on Bull’s Eye Rot of ‘Cripps Pink’ Apple and Control Chemical Strategies

values (>0.75). All preharvest fungicide treatments significantly (P < 0.0085) reduced the bull's eye rot incidence; however, thiophanate-methyl (achieving >87% control) was more effective than a mixture of pyraclostrobin and boscalid (<80.7%) or fludioxonil (<57.6%), in all trials. Compared with nontreated control fruit, a postharvest treatment with the ethylene inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) halved the incidence of infection in three of four experiments. However, a combination of two preharvest treatments with a mixture of pyraclostrobin plus boscalid and one postharvest 1-MPC treatment suppressed bull's eye rot to a significantly (P < 0.00001) greater degree (achieving >87.5% control) than the single treatments with pyraclostrobin and boscalid (<65%) and 1-MCP (<80%) tested alone.