To help reduce pesticide use in European apple orchards, growers in Romania can now grow scab-free fruit without having to rely entirely on chemical solutions. Thanks to cooperation between Romanian scientists, Cornell University and Cornell's Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., the scientists started a project to grow scab- free apple varieties developed by Romanian apple breeders to resist the scab, which causes a rough-shaped lesion on the fruit.

"Because for centuries they have been growing fruit like pears, plums and apples, the Romanians are inherently good horticulturists," said Harvey Reissig, Cornell professor of entomology and a researcher at the Agricultural Experiment Station. He is one of five Cornell scientists offering assistance. "Since they are experienced, it's fairly easy to translate our information to them."

By using a strategy known as integrated pest management (IPM), U.S. scientists have been able to show that apples can be grown using lesser amounts of pesticide. IPM is the multi-strategy approach agriculturists employ to reduce pesticide use, while obtaining high yields in the orchards and fields. Tactics include crop rotation, the use of natural/biological control methods, pest-resistant plant varieties, pest-prevention techniques, biopesticides and pest attractants and repellents.

Through international cooperation, Western scientists met with Romanian agriculturists and began a program that would bring essential help. The program is "Small Scale, Sustainable, IPM and Production Systems for Apples in Romania," a cooperative project between Cornell, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Massachusetts, which is reported in the latest issue of New York's Food and Life Science Bulletin #146, published in February. The project was funded by the USDA's Office of International Cooperative Development.

Other Cornell scientists participating in the project include: Arthur Agnello, associate professor of entomology; Joseph Kovach, fruit IPM coordinator; Terence Robinson, associate professor of horticulture; and Wayne Wilcox, associate professor of plant pathology.

Romania grows more than 240,000 acres of apples, making it one of the top apple-producing countries in the world. The large government orchards are being broken up, thus many of the country's small farms lack the desperately needed financial resources to purchase new equipment or even to buy critical pesticides. The potential of losing their crop to the apple scab became a problem.

Apple scab, insect and mite pests are more difficult to control in Romania than in commercial orchards in the United States. The Western scientists learned that most homes in the country's Curtea de Arges region have a few apple trees that had never been sprayed for pests. Furthermore, in commercial orchards, the older, poorly maintained spray equipment did not adequately cover the trees, and the growers are not been apprised of the optimum spraying times – leading either to too much or too little application of pesticide.

Reissig reports that newer, environmentally friendly compounds not yet available to growers in the United States are commonly used in Europe and are registered for use on apples in Romania. He indicated that one advantage of cooperating with the Romanians is that Western scientists get a preview of the compounds' efficacy. He also said that Western scientists also gain experience working with small- scale, sustainable environments.

Successfully battling apple pests is only part of the problem; gaining consumer acceptance is an other part. Romanian consumers currently enjoy the Delicious, Golden Delicious, Rome and the Jonathan apples, and have yet to try the new scab-free varieties. So, the marketability of these new fruit is unknown, but Western researchers are confident that these new cultivars eventually will gain public acceptance.