Abstract: To investigate whether the color of packaging bags can reduce bird damage and economic losses of apples, we bagged the apples with different colors in Foyukou orchard, Yanqing County, Beijing during 2013 and 2014. The total number of bags was 1713 for the experimental group and 1787 for the control group. The results showed that there was a significant difference (P<0.001) between treatments, and the bags with a cobalt blue color had the best protection against bird damage. The destruction ratio of apples was 1.30% with cobaltblue bags, followed by bright red and white with destruction ratios of 2.11% and 2.60%, respectively, which were still lower than the destruction ratio (4.40%) of the primary fruit bag color (the control). Bags with black, ultramarine blue, brown and pale purple had lower effects on protecting against bird damage compared with the control group, with destruction ratios of 9.21%, 8.60%, 8.11% and 6.90%, respectively. Therefore, we suggest that bags with cobalt blue can be used for the protection of orchard harvest.

Key words: Cytospora sp., Streptomyces rochei, inhibitory activity, bio-control, 16S rDNA