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EUPHRESCO III-Special Issue on Plant Health Priorities-RESEARCH PAPERS

An efficient method for in vitro screening of susceptibility of wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) to Phytophthora species

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  • Luisa GHELARDINI,
  • Anna DE ROGATIS,
  • Serena GUERRI,
  • Francesco PECORI,
  • Fulvio DUCCI,
  • Alberto SANTINI
Luisa GHELARDINI
Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Ambientali, Alimentari e Forestali (DAGRI), Piazzale delle Cascine 28, 50144 Firenze, Italy
Anna DE ROGATIS
Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria - Agricoltura Ambiente (CREA AA), Via di Saliceto 80, 40123 Bologna, Italy
Serena GUERRI
Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria - Foreste e Legno (CREA-FL,) Viale Santa Margherita 80, 52100 Arezzo, Italy
Francesco PECORI
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante (IPSP-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Fulvio DUCCI
Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria - Foreste e Legno (CREA-FL,) Viale Santa Margherita 80, 52100 Arezzo, Italy
Alberto SANTINI
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante (IPSP-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/phyto-16631
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Published 2026-07-12

Keywords

  • Micropropagation,
  • early screening,
  • host resistance

How to Cite

[1]
L. GHELARDINI, A. DE ROGATIS, S. GUERRI, F. PECORI, F. DUCCI, and A. SANTINI, “An efficient method for in vitro screening of susceptibility of wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) to Phytophthora species”, Phytopathol. Mediterr., Jul. 2026.

Copyright (c) 2026 Luisa GHELARDINI, Anna DE ROGATIS, Serena GUERRI, Francesco PECORI, Fulvio DUCCI, Alberto SANTINI

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

A method was developed for in vitro screening clones of wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) for susceptibility to four Phytophthora species (P. uniformis, P. megasperma P. citrophthora, and P. cinnamomi), by using inoculation tests on micropropagated plants. Susceptibility was evaluated with a disease severity scale based on visual assessments of external symptoms. All tested wild cherry clones were very susceptible to P. citrophthora, while susceptibility to P. cinnamomi was variable among the clones, and resistance to P. uniformis and P. megasperma was generally high. These results were consistent with those obtained previously using inoculated wild cherry seedlings. The method offers advantages compared to seedling or sapling assays, including reduced time requirement, evaluation of cloned material under controlled conditions, and easy replication at any time of year. Compared to field tests, the method does not depend on the availability of land and does not involve risks of soil or water contamination, which is always a concern in Phytophthoras. The method is suitable for mass screening of plant material in programmes for selecting genetically improved wild cherry clones for disease resistance.

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