Micropropagation of peach rootstocks and cultivars.

Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) is one of the most popular stone fruits, commercially produced largely in Mediterranean and, to a lesser extent, in continental climatic conditions. Several breeding programs with different aims release annually large numbers of new cultivars.

Characterization of Bacillus strains from apple and pear trees in South Africa antagonistic to Erwinia amylovora.

In order to find reasons for the absence of fire blight in most countries of the Southern hemisphere, bark samples from apple and pear trees in orchards of the Western Cape region in South Africa were extracted for bacteria which could be antagonistic to Erwinia amylovora. Screening was done in the late growth season and mainly Gram-positive bacteria were isolated. Approximately half of them produced growth inhibition zones on a lawn of E.