On the Factors that May Have Influenced the Esca Epidemic in the Eighties in Tuscany
Tuscany is one of the viticultural regions in Italy most severely affected by esca. The epidemic started in 1986, and at the time it was explained as being caused by the great frost that hit Tuscany and many other parts of Italy the year before. Now, several years later, with a clearer understanding...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Firenze University Press
2004-04-01
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Series: | Phytopathologia Mediterranea |
Online Access: | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/pm/article/view/5043 |
Summary: | Tuscany is one of the viticultural regions in Italy most severely affected by esca. The epidemic started in
1986, and at the time it was explained as being caused by the great frost that hit Tuscany and many other parts of
Italy the year before. Now, several years later, with a clearer understanding of the disease in the light of more recent
research, we re-examined the cause of the epidemic and ask which factors could have been more likely explanations
of that epidemic – factors such as the chemicals then used to control other vine diseases in Italy (active ingredients,
dosages, times of application), or, contemporary, methods to produce propagation material, changes in cultural practices,
or the rootstock that were then used in new vineyards and so on. We found little evidence that there was a
direct correlation between the cold damage suffered in 1985 and the increase in esca disease later. We suggest that
contributing factors causing the epidemic included the selective activity of fungicides used in the vineyard, which
may have led to a build-up of inoculum of the fungi causing esca, and poor quality planting material arising from
large scale propagation, resulting in vines more susceptible to weak pathogens such as Phaeomoniella chlamydospora. |
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ISSN: | 0031-9465 1593-2095 |