Authorities Investigate New Olive Tree Pathogen in Northeast Italy

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Authorities in the north­east­ern Italian region of Veneto are search­ing for the most effi­cient way to com­bat an unknown pathogen attack­ing many of the area’s olive trees.

The Venetian regional gov­ern­ment has already pledged €20,000 ($23,700) to iden­tify and con­tain the novel pathogen, which was first noticed in the area three years ago.

“It is not Xylella fas­tidiosa,” the author­i­ties said in a press release. ​“It is an emerg­ing dis­ease that threat­ens Venetian olive groves. Since 2017, we have observed phe­nom­ena includ­ing the wilt­ing of tree branches, necro­sis and fruit drops.”

Already, agro-forestry researchers at the University of Padua have been able to iden­tify some of the pathogens involved in the out­breaks.

Certain fungi, from the Botryosphaeriaceae fam­ily, are now con­sid­ered respon­si­ble for dam­ag­ing the plants’ health and their pro­duc­tive capac­ity.

However, the researchers in charge of the project told Olive Oil Times that it might still be too soon to point to a spe­cific cause. They added that in the next cou­ple of months it should be pos­si­ble to have a more clear pic­ture of what is going on.

With the help of local olive farm­ers, pro­ducer asso­ci­a­tions and the Veneto PDO olive oil con­sor­tia, author­i­ties hope to mon­i­tor what hap­pens to the trees and bet­ter under­stand the vec­tors, or pests, that spread the dis­ease. Figuring this out will be an essen­tial step to inform future con­tain­ment and pre­ven­tion strate­gies.

Moving for­ward, the researchers plan on car­ry­ing out exper­i­ments in the field in which they will test cer­tain fungi­cides specif­i­cally designed for use against Botryosphaeria doth­idea, Neofusicoccum parvum and Phytophthora.

They will also closely observe the other plant and insect species found in the olive groves in order to under­stand their role as reser­voirs for the pathogens.

Of par­tic­u­lar inter­est is the inva­sive Asian bug species, which agron­o­mists have already shown to be a poten­tial can­di­date for caus­ing green drop in the region’s olive trees.

Local author­i­ties said that more than 12,400 acres (5,000 hectares) of olive groves will be observed, includ­ing the areas around Lake Garda, the Colli Euganei, Berici and Monte Grappa.

• Veneto regional gov­ern­ment
• Padova Oggi
• Padovando