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Phytophthora hibernalis, P. lacustris and P. multivora associated with declining Ligustrum lucidum trees in an urban park in Portugal

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  • Carlo BREGANT,
  • Benedetto Teodoro LINALDEDDU,
  • Michele NARDUZZI,
  • Anna Maria VETTRAINO,
  • Artur ALVES
Carlo BREGANT
Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-Forestali, Università degli Studi di Padova, Viale dell’Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Benedetto Teodoro LINALDEDDU
Dipartimento Territorio e Sistemi Agro-Forestali, Università degli Studi di Padova, Viale dell’Università, 16, 35020 Legnaro, Italy
Michele NARDUZZI
Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Viterbo 01100, Italy
Anna Maria VETTRAINO
Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Viterbo 01100, Italy
Artur ALVES
Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/phyto-16637
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Published 2025-11-03

Keywords

  • Emerging disease,
  • Oomycetes,
  • urban green areas

How to Cite

[1]
C. BREGANT, B. T. LINALDEDDU, M. NARDUZZI, A. M. VETTRAINO, and A. ALVES, “Phytophthora hibernalis, P. lacustris and P. multivora associated with declining Ligustrum lucidum trees in an urban park in Portugal”, Phytopathol. Mediterr., pp. 559–566, Nov. 2025.

Copyright (c) 2025 Carlo BREGANT, Benedetto Teodoro LINALDEDDU, Michele NARDUZZI, Anna Maria VETTRAINO, Artur ALVES

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

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Abstract

During a monitoring survey carried out in a park in Aveiro, Portugal, typical Phytophthora symptoms of root rot, stem bleeding cankers and extensive canopy dieback were observed on mature ornamental glossy privet trees (Ligustrum lucidum). A study carried out in spring 2022 aimed to isolate the causal agents, as there is was no available knowledge on potential root pathogens of this host. Thirty-two Phytophthora isolates were obtained from inner bark tissues and/or rhizosphere samples (soil and fine roots) collected from 27 declining glossy privet trees. Based on morpho-biometric data and phylogeny of concatenated ITS and cox1 sequences, Phytophthora isolates were identified as P. hibernalis (14 isolates), P. multivora (12) and P. lacustris (6). Pathogenicity tests confirmed the virulence of the three species on glossy privet. Phytophthora lacustris was the most aggressive species, while P. hibernalis was most abundant. These results give new insights into emerging Phytophthora-related tree diseases in urban areas, and highlight the importance of enhancing biosecurity measures against these invasive pathogens.

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