Epidemiological role of spontaneous weeds in the spreading of “bois noir” phytoplasma Mori Nicola1,*, Passera Alessandro2, Quaglino Fabio2, Posenato Gabriele3, Bianco Piero Attilio2 1Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Padova, Legnaro, Padua, Italy 2Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali - Produzione, Territorio e Agroenergia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy 3AGREA Centro Studi, San Giovanni Lupatoto, Verona, Italy *Corresponding author e-mail: Nicola Mori (nicola.mori@unipd.it)
Online published on 2 January, 2015. Abstract Survival of Hyalesthes obsoletus on some weeds was investigated to verify their possible role in “bois noir” epidemiology. Data evidenced that H. obsoletus survived after 14 days of forced feeding on Urtica dioica, Convolvolus arvensis, Artemisia vulgaris, Plantago lanceolata and Taraxacum officinale. This evidence reinforced the hypothesis of a possible involvement of such weeds, carrying the same “bois noir” phytoplasma tuf-type identified in grapevines and insects, in “bois noir” spread in north-eastern Italy. Top Keywords ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma solani’, grapevine yellows, Hyalesthes obsoletus. Top |