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Aerobic, heterotrophic, mesophilic bacteria were isolated from olive leaves in January, April, July and October in each of three consecutive years. Phenetic data on the isolates and marker strains were collected and analysed using numerical taxonomic methods: 1744 of the 1789 isolates were recovered in phena that were equated with Pseudomonas savastanoi (67·86% of the isolates), Erwinia herbicola (8·50%), Bacillus megaterium (4·02%), Micrococcus luteus (3·63%), the Xanthomonas campestris group (3·35%), Arthrobacter globiformis (2·07%), Lactobacillus plantarum (1·45%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (1·40%), Serratia marcescens (1·34%), Acetobacter aceti (1·23%), Leuconostoc dextranicum (1·12%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (1·06%), Bacillus subtilis (0·34%) and Pseudomonas delafieldii (0·11%). There were characteristic seasonal fluctuations in the populations of most of the bacteria. The abundance of P. savastanoi on healthy leaves in April and October supports earlier suggestions that the phylloplane of the host may be an important source of readily available inoculum in the epidemiology of olive knot disease.
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