Determining the factors of fruit rotting and their impacts on some quality parameters of olive grown in Western Anatolia

Olive farming has a high economic importance for farmers in both Aegean region and Turkey. In recent years, due to the recent changes in the climate, some new diseases have been reported in olive fruits. In this thesis, fungal pathogens causing olive fruit rot were identified. For this purpose, healthy and infected olive fruit samples were collected from the regions of Aydın, Balıkesir, Manisa and Izmir in the period of 2011-2012. A total of 254 pathogenic isolates were determined in the collected samples. The most common pathogen was the Botryosphaeria spp., as 73 genus. Apart from this species, 54 isolates from Alternaria spp., 16 isolates from Fusarium spp., 12 isolates from Phoma spp., 11 isolates from Colletotrichum spp., and 8 isolates from Trichothecium spp. were identified respectively. Of the pathogen isolates detected in the study, a smaller number of isolates such as; 6 isolates of Aspergillus spp., 2 isolates of Stemphylium spp., 4 isolates of Penicillium spp., 4 isolates of Ulocladium spp., 1 isolate of Neofusicoccum parvum, 1 isolate of Boeremia exiqua, 1 isolate of Pestalotiopsis spp., and 1 isolate of Cladosporium spp., pathogens were also identified. The study, which included the detection of pathogens that caused rot in the olive fruit and whether these pathogens affected the quality of fruit and olive oil was carried out for the first time in our country. It is believed that the results of this research will form the basis for the new regulations to be made by the Ministry and the research to be done thereafter.