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Cross-infection and asymptomatic colonization by Botryosphaeriaceae fungi on lignified stems of apple and olive, and dormant cuttings of grapevine

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  • Laura HERNÁNDEZ,
  • Pedro MONDINO,
  • Maria Julia CARBONE,
  • Victoria MOREIRA,
  • Oscar BENTANCOR,
  • Sandra ALANIZ
Laura HERNÁNDEZ
Departamento de Protección Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Pedro MONDINO
Departamento de Protección Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Maria Julia CARBONE
Departamento de Protección Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Victoria MOREIRA
Departamento de Protección Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Oscar BENTANCOR
Departamento de Biometría, Estadística y Computación, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
Sandra ALANIZ
Departamento de Protección Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/phyto-16717

Published 2026-03-16

Keywords

  • Botryosphaeria,
  • Diplodia,
  • Neofusicoccum,
  • host jumping

How to Cite

[1]
HERNÁNDEZ L., P. MONDINO, M. J. CARBONE, V. MOREIRA, O. BENTANCOR, and S. ALANIZ, “Cross-infection and asymptomatic colonization by Botryosphaeriaceae fungi on lignified stems of apple and olive, and dormant cuttings of grapevine”, Phytopathol. Mediterr., Mar. 2026.

Copyright (c) 2026 Laura HERNÁNDEZ, Pedro MONDINO, Maria Julia CARBONE, Victoria MOREIRA, Oscar BENTANCOR, Sandra ALANIZ

Creative Commons License

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

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Abstract

Botryosphaeriaceae pathogens have broad host ranges and can move between hosts, particularly those with overlapping geographic distributions. Cross-infection potential and virulence were assessed for 40 isolates of Botryosphaeria, Diplodia, and Neofusicoccum (11 species), originally isolated from apple, olive, or grapevine crops. Progression of asymptomatic colonization beyond visible necrotic lesions was also assessed, to determine minimum pruning distances required for effective pathogen removal. The assays were conducted using detached lignified stems of apple and olive, and dormant cuttings of grapevine. All the isolates cross-infected and colonized stems or cuttings of the three potential hosts, confirming host-independence of these pathogens. Most of the Neofusicoccum isolates consistently caused the largest lesions across the three inoculated hosts. Asymptomatic colonization was not detected at distances of 20 or 30 cm beyond visible lesions. However, at 10 cm, one isolate of N. parvum colonized the three hosts, and one isolate of D. seriata colonized olive host. These results highlight the challenges for managing these pathogens in fruit crops growing in close proximity, and emphasize the urgency of revising the minimum pruning distances required for successful pathogen removal.

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