Stone fruit phytoplasma disease management in Lebanon Lova Marina Molino1, Mahfoud C.2, Jawdah Yusuf Abou3, Faculty, Choueiri Elia4, Abdul-Nour H.5, Faculty, Fakhr R.6, Faculty, Achi R. al7, Alma Alberto8, Picciau Luca8, Bianco Pier Attilio1,* 1Di.Pro.Ve. Sezione Patologia Vegetale, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy 2AVSI Foundation, Jounieh Ghadir, Lebanon 3Agricultural and Food Sciences (FAFS), American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon 4Department of Plant Protection, Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI), Tal Amara, Zahlé, Lebanon 5Science, Lebanese University (LU), Fanar, Lebanon 6des Sciences Agronomiques, Universitè Saint Esprit de Kaslik (USEK), Kaslik, Lebanon 7Ministry of Agriculture, Bir Hassan, Beirut, Lebanon 8Di.Va.P.R.A. Sezione Entomologia e Zoologia applicate all'ambiente, Università degli Studi di Torino, Turin, Italy *Corresponding author e-mail: piero.bianco@unimi.it
Online published on 21 February, 2012. Abstract The stone fruit production in Lebanon is threatened by the spread of almond witches’ broom. After a decade, the disease spread all over the cultivated regions, affecting also peaches and nectarines, representing a risk for the stone fruit production not only in Lebanon but also in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions. A national survey has been conducted in 495 Lebanese villages, monitoring about 900 orchards. On the basis of symptom observation, 368 plant samples have been collected and analyzed. Ninety-five percent of symptomatic almonds and 100% of symptomatic peach/nectarine samples tested positive to the analysis, whereas 99.1% of asymptomatic almond and 100% of asymptomatic peach/nectarine samples tested negative to the analyses. The disease was detected in 16 out of 26 Lebanese districts, at different rate of infection, on almond peach and nectarine samples. Moreover, a large insect collection, carried out over two years, allowed achieving a deeper knowledge on the fauna biodiversity in the Lebanese stone fruit orchards, finding some putative phytoplasma vectors that will be investigated in further researches. Top Keywords Lebanon, stone fruit. Top |