Detection of pear decline and European stone fruit yellows in Bulgaria

Pear trees showing pear decline symptoms and yellows-diseased trees of apri cot, peach and almond, all collected in Bulgaria, were examined for phytopl asma infection using polymerase chain reaction technology. From diseased pe ar and stone fruit trees, the target DNA could be amplified with both unive rsal phytoplasma primers and primers specific for fruit trees phytoplasmas of the apple proliferation group. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis revealed that pear and stone fruit trees were infected with the pe ar decline and European stone fruit yellows phytoplasmas, respectively. Thi s is the first report on the occurrence of these phytoplasmas in Bulgaria.