Pathogenic and bacteriological characteristics of Erwinia amylovora, the pathogen of pear and quince - trees in Macedonia

Fire blight, caused by Erwinia amylovora (Burrill 1882) Winslow et al. 1920 is very destructive disease for pear, quince and less to apple in Macedonia. The pathogen recently a quarantine bacterium for our country, has already been caused considerable damages with tendency of further spreading. The purpose of the present study was: (1) to show economic importans and distribution of E. amylovora in Macedonia, (2) to test their pathogenicity (3) to verify their properties by morphological, biochemical and physiological tests and (4)to compare the strains isolated in Macedonia with authentic strains from France.