Thermotherapy (Hot Water Treatment, HWT)
Partner
Università degli Studi di Udine
Description
Hot-water treatment of graftable plant material is admitted as phytosanitary treatment both by EU Directive 2000/29/EC (EU, 2000) and by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) (PM 4/8 standard). This practice is mainly applied for the control of Flavescence dorée. Furthermore, and to some degree, it has proven to be effective also on other pathogens such as Stolbur, the causative agent of Bois noir, Agrobacterium vitis, Xylophilus ampelinus, some of the fungi responsible for wood diseases, Scaphoideus titanus eggs and phylloxera.
Goal
Even though hot-water treatment is a well-established practice, there are criticalities regarding its effects on plant vitality and microbiome (endophytic organisms), as well as on callusing of the grafted vine. The project aims at assessing the effects of the treatment on the said variables. It also includes protocols with different durations and temperatures, a wide set of scion/rootstock combinations, biometric measurements and molecular analysis for the identification of endophyte organisms.
Results
Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo are planning to collect enough information to make a thorough assessment of hot-water treatment effects on propagation material (scions and rootstocks) according to the variables above, and to share such information in order to promote implementations of the existing protocols.
