What's happening in the world of grapevine trunk diseases?

Abstract

Grapevine trunk diseases such as Eutypa dieback, Petri disease, esca and Botryosphaeria canker all contribute to grapevine decline, reducing productivity and longevity, thereby causing considerable economic loss to the industry. It was recently estimated that Eutypa dieback alone costs Australian growers approximately A$20m annually in Shiraz through lost production. CRC for Viticulture researchers, Drs Mark Sosnowski and Trevor Wicks (SARDI), Richard Lardner and Eileen Scott (University of Adelaide), Jacqueline Edwards and Ian Pascoe (Dept of Primary Industries, Victoria) and Helen Waite (University of Melbourne) attended the 4th International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (IWGTD) which was held in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Five of the researchers went on to attend the 43rd Southern African Society for Plant Pathology Congress (SASPPC). The main purposes of this travel were to: identify areas for future research in Australia to ensure that the industry remains internationally competitive; present results from Australian research at the IWGTD and SASPPC; visit researchers at the University of Stellenbosch and ARC-Infruitec to discuss research and develop collaborative projects; establish or renew contact with key researchers working worldwide on management and epidemiology of trunk diseases and discuss potential collaborative links.