Apple and pear scab affects leaves, flowers, ovaries, and fruits, manifesting as olive-colored spots with a velvety coating, which leads to fruit cracking and yield loss. In potatoes, several types of scab are distinguished: common scab, where ulcers appear on tubers, and powdery scab, characterized by the formation of warts that rupture into powdery ulcers, as well as root damage.
The development of the disease depends on environmental conditions: for fruit scab, high humidity and rainfall are favorable, while for potatoes, it depends on soil specifics (pH, temperature, and moisture). Varietal resistance is ensured by breeding based on major genes or their combinations. Absolutely immune varieties do not exist, so resistance often manifests as field resistance and depends on the climatic zone.
In variety trials, resistance is assessed visually using a scoring scale or in percentages under natural and artificial infection backgrounds. To increase the accuracy of breeding, molecular genetic marking is used, which allows for the detection of resistance genes by genotype, minimizing phenotypic evaluation errors.