Pear is one of the most widely cultivated and economically important pome fruits worldwide, including in Albania. However, farmers now face challenges in fruit growing due to various factors, such as climate change, pests and diseases. One such disease is fire blight, which is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora and can destroy entire orchards within a single season. Its destructive nature stems from the way it spreads, its aggressiveness, and the lack of effective control treatments. In some years, fire blight can have a significant economic impact, potentially resulting in the loss of entire orchards.
Our project has two main objectives: to study plant resistance and to test and analyse several bacterial strains. To investigate plant resistance, different pear cultivars are brought from Albania and tested at the Julius Kühn Institute through artificial inoculation with various bacterial strains. Meanwhile, the DNA of the bacterial strains is sequenced and analysed for nucleotide and protein differences.