Xylella fastidiosa in France/Italy?
It was reported in EPPO Reporting Service no. 505/02 that Xylella fastidiosa (EPPO A1 list) had been detected in France in propagating material of grapevine imported from Italy but deriving originally from the United States. The Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forests informs us that the Plant Protection Service tested the nursery grapevines from which the material for export to France was obtained, with negative results.
The tests were performed at the Institute of Plant Pathology of the University of Bologna on xylem extracts from 1-2 year-old cutting of the cultivars Blush Seedless, Centennial Seedless, Christmas Rose, Dawn Seedless and Red Globe, obtained by vacuum extraction by the method of Bazzi et al. (1987); the tests were also done on leaf extracts, ground by pestle and mortar, from the cultivars Black Pearl and·Corrin Seedless raised in vitro. They were subjected to the ELISA test following the procedure of Agdia's Pathoscreen 288.
Sources
Ministero dell' Agricultura e delle Foreste, Direzione Generale della Produzione Agricola, Rome.