Specialists who have participated in the conference Advances in the detection of Xylella fastidiosa.

Increase the financial allocation for research and be able to find resistant crops, increase scientific collaboration between countries that have been suffering for years from the effects of Xylella fastidiosa and others where it has recently entered, as well as continue with policies of containment and eradication of affected crops are some of the conclusions of the conference Advances in the detection of Xylella fastidiosa held in Valencia this Tuesday.

The conference, with close to one hundred people in attendance, has been organized by the Ibero-American Network for the control of this bacteria (CYTED-IBER-XYFAS) with the help of the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology, a joint center of the University of València and the CSIC, as well as the Valencian Institute of Agrarian Research (IVIA). It took place at the Casa de la Ciencia de València and was presented by the vice-rector for Research of the University, Carlos Hermenegildo; the institutional coordinator of the CSIC in the Valencian Community, Juan Fuster; and the director of the IVIA, Enrique Moltó.

“A general feeling is that resources must be increased for the detection, but also for the prevention of this and other diseases that affect fruit trees,” highlighted Juli Peretó, coordinator of the Ibero-American Network for the control of Xylella fastidiosa, vice director of I2SysBio and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Valencia in reference to other diseases that have not yet reached the European continent.

In addition, the conclave has stressed that the effect of Xylella varies according to each country, given the diversity of hosts it can have and the characteristics of each area, so, depending on the countries, this disease affects some crops or others, and it does so in totally different ways, which makes unitary protocols difficult. “We have to join forces to combat Xylella”, highlighted Peretó.

Specialists in the detection of this pest from Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Italy, the Balearic Islands and Valencia participated in the session. Among the conclusions, it was also noted that there are currently two European Union projects on this topic in the IVIA. José Luis García, director of the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology, asked for more financial resources for Xylella research.

Edson Bertolini, from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, recalled that they are the main producer of oranges in the world, and how at the beginning of the plague caused by Xylella millions of citrus trees were uprooted, which has allowed them to continue leading this sector. Currently, in this country Xylella affects four crops: citrus, plums, olives and coffee. According to the expert, since its detection in 1978, plum production has decreased by 90%, while in the case of citrus fruits, a few million trees have been uprooted since 1987. "Now, the situation is much better than ten years ago, but trees continue to be uprooted." It is occupied by a monoculture. The diversity of plants and bacteria means that none of them can predominate over the rest, in the other case, pathogens can seriously affect the entire ecosystem.

On behalf of the IVIA, Ester Marco, responsible for the Spanish reference laboratory for phytopathogens on Xylella, characterized the situation in Europe of the Xylella condition, with outbreaks detected in the Balearic Islands (except Formentera), Alicante, northern Italy and the northern Portugal. He stressed that the laboratory analyzes the samples that arrive, especially almond trees, and the great variety of the Xylella bacteria is confirmed, and how it mutates. Francisco Beitia, an expert also from the IVIA, explained how this bacteria enters various insects (its vectors) and is how it is transmitted to other plants. Given the great variety of Xylella vectors, it is impossible to eradicate them all. “The scientific community has not yet found a way to eliminate this bacteria,” he highlighted. In addition, Sergio Cubero explained how an IVIA research group works on remote control sensors to know the symptoms that crops may have and whether or not they can relate them to Xylella and in this way prevent the disease caused by the bacteria.

Juan Pedro Bouvet (National Institute of Agricultural Technology, Argentina) highlighted how in Argentina Xylella is a topic displaced by the current concern about HLB, better known as dragon yellow, and that has caused a great mortality of citrus. “The topic was investigated years ago, but it has been displaced by this new, much more aggressive disease.” Diego Olmo (Official Plant Health Laboratory of the Balearic Islands) explained the recognition of symptoms and action protocols against Xylella. María Saponara, from the Institute for the Sustainable Production of Plants in Italy, also participated in the event, who announced the European diagnostic protocol.

Science and Technology for Development

Tuesday's event is the first activity of the IBER science, technology and innovation for development.

The IBER-XYFAS Network is coordinated by Juli Peretó, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Valencia and vice director of the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio, UV-CSIC). It is made up of a consortium of 32 academic research groups, companies and institutions with agronomic competences (such as the Valencian Institute of Agricultural Research or the corresponding plant health services of the Generalitat Valenciana, the Balearic Government or the General Council of Aragon), belonging to 10 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain, United States of America, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Chile).

The consortium IBER-XYFAS also proposes to raise awareness among citizens in general and the agricultural sector in particular about the diseases, until now incurable, caused by this bacteria that attacks numerous crops of great economic importance, including almond trees, olive trees, grapevines, citrus fruits and a wide variety of fruit trees.

Day program: href="http://ir.uv.es/nmGbt1a">http://ir.uv.es/nmGbt1a

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