Diseases and disorders associated with environmental stress in sustainable olive orchards in Australia

The main aim of our research is to contribute to the knowledge on diseases and disorders of olives in Australia. Based on our diagnostic and field research work we report several new records of fruit rots and of fungi associated with foliage, trunk and root diseases. As well as being affected by a range of pathogenic diseases, olives are also subject to non-pathogenic disorders, such as damage by heat and sun, wind, fire and other weather conditions, water-logging and irregular watering or nutrient imbalances, all of which interfere with the normal physiological processes in trees. As a result, reduced crop set and fruit size as well as a range of other symptoms such as frost, chilling, hail injuries, and sunburn can be directly caused by environmental conditions. Moisture, temperature, sunlight, nutrition and soil characteristics can all affect plant growth. If one of these factors is out of balance it may lead to environmental stress which may, in turn, result in a greater tendency to become diseased.