Fruit were purchased
from a local supermarket, washed twice with tap water to
remove surface pesticide residues, and placed into plastic boxes
until the surface had dried. Fungicides PropiMax EC (15 ml/liter)
and Topsin-M (0.6 g/liter) were sprayed to runoff onto the fruit 20
h prior to inoculation using a hand mister. Untreated fruit were
sprayed with distilled sterile water. Three 4-by-2-mm (diameter by
depth) plugs were removed from each fruit at three equidistant
locations (2 cm apart) using a cork borer (4 mm in diameter). The
plugs were replaced within 1 h by mycelium plugs of equal dimension
taken from the margin of 5-day-old cultures. After inoculation,
the boxes were sealed with plastic bags to keep the relative
humidity around 100% and maintained at room temperature. Disease
incidence and lesion diameters were measured after 3 days.
The experiment was conducted twice with three replicates per
experiment. Each replicate consisted of six inoculation sites on two
fruit. Fitness parameters on detached fruit were investigated as
described above in separate experiments, except that no fungicides
were applied. Lesion diameters were recorded 3 days after inoculation