First report of Diaporthe vaccinii in Lithuania
Diaporthe vaccinii (anamorph Phomopsis vaccinii – EPPO A1 list) was detected inadvertently in Lithuania in 2000/2002. The fungus was found on shoots and leaves of Vaccinium macrocarpon (American cranberry) in the botanical garden of Kaunas. Later in 2003, scientists from the Institute of Botany detected D. vaccinii in a plantation of V. corymbosum (highbush blueberries) in the central part of Lithuania. All infested plants were destroyed. In 2003, the NPPO started a monitoring programme on cultivated Vaccinium. 33 samples (V. corymbosum, V. macrocarpon, V. vitis-idaea) were collected from 11 locations and tested in the laboratory. D. vaccinii was identified on 4 samples from 2 locations. In 2004, D. vaccinii was identified on wild cranberries (Vaccinium oxycoccos, syn: Oxycoccus palustris) in a collection of European species which grew near infected American cranberries. D. vaccinii was identified by the Phytosanitary Research Laboratory of the Lithuanian NPPO on the basis of morphological characters. The identification was confirmed by CSL, York (GB) and by the Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory, Beltsville (US) using PCR. Monitoring will continue in 2004 and will also include local species of Vaccinium. This is the first report of D. vaccinii in Lithuania. In Europe, an earlier incursion was recorded in the early 1980s in Romania in experimental plots of introduced American cultivars, but the fungus was then no longer found.
The situation of D. vaccinii in Lithuania can be described as follows: Present, found for the first time in 2000/2002 in a few places, under eradication.
Sources
NPPO of Lithuania, 2004-05 and 2004-06.