International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 30-43 http://ecoevopublisher.com/index.php/ijmec 38 Figure 2 Three different Selenicereus species of pitaya (A) S. undatus (B) & (C) S. costariscensis and (D) represent S. megalanthus (Adopted from Al-Qthanin et al., 2024) Bird's nest fruit has different degrees of self-flowering failure. This means that when there is no foreign pollen or artificial assisted pollination, the fruit setting rate is very low, thus affecting the yield. To overcome this problem, pollination trees or artificial pollination need to be configured in production, which increases labor costs and management difficulties. Although some new self-compatible varieties have been selected through breeding, these new varieties may not be comprehensively superior to traditional varieties in terms of fruit quality or other traits, so their promotion is subject to certain restrictions. In addition, in terms of pollinators, the main pollinating insects and bats in the origin may be missing in the new area, resulting in a low natural pollination rate. How to cultivate varieties with strong self-pollination ability and high quality, or improve agricultural measures to increase the natural fruit setting rate, is one of the key challenges to improving production efficiency. 8.2 Pest and disease infection and adaptability Bird's nest fruit is often introduced to a new environment and faces the invasion of pests and diseases in the origin or the infection of new local pests and diseases. Among them, stem blight/ulcer disease is the biggest threat to the current global dragon fruit industry. It is caused by the fungus N. dimidiatumand can cause branch ulcer rot and fruit lesions. The disease has been prevalent in many countries in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Americas, and has been listed as a major disease that needs to be strictly prevented by the world's plant pathology community (Espinoza-Lozano et al., 2023). Because the pathogen of stem blight has the characteristics of a wide host and strong environmental adaptability, it is called a "destructive disease" (Derviş and Özer, 2023). At present, there are no highly resistant varieties to stem blight, and chemical control has limited effect. Each production area mainly
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