CIHEAM Press Review

Using sound vibrations, researchers may be able to disrupt the mating of spittlebugs in olive groves. Agriculture groups are calling for more research.

Italy’s southern orchards have been affected by hailstorms, drought and the Xylella bacteria.

Italy, the world’s second-largest exporter of olive oil, has seen output drop by a quarter this year, an agricultural lobby said, due to bad weather and a deadly bacteria.

One of the most rel­e­vant olive oil pro­duc­ing areas in the south­ern Italian region of Puglia is once again under the attack from Xylella fas­tidiosa.
A new out­break of the deadly plant pathogen has been dis­cov­ered by the Italian author­i­ties in sev­eral olive trees close to Monopoli, in what is con­sid­ered the epi­demic buffer zone, a crit­i­cal mon­i­tor­ing area located between the infected and the safe zones.

Along with shrinking the infection and buffer zones, the European Commission also admitted that the deadly plant pathogen could no longer be removed in some regions and called on E.U. member states to intensify their surveillance of the disease.

Italy’s COVID-19 epi­demic has cast a shadow on the fight against Xylella fas­tidiosa in the south­ern regions of the coun­try. The out­break of the aer­o­bic bac­te­ria has plagued olive trees in the region, and con­tain­ment mea­sures are not yet in place.
The lat­est sam­pling showed 600 new infec­tions and 100 olive trees hit. The dis­tri­b­u­tion of the bac­te­ria in the Puglia region was found to have begun affect­ing other species, such as laven­der, sug­gest­ing a risk of more wide­spread infec­tion in the spring.

Updated fumigation standards, new ground rules for international trade in agricultural products and the development of new technologies to screen plants and plant products for diseases were among the standards approved by the body.

The Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional association has partnered with several institutions to complete an ambitious research project that will study how to control and eradicate Xylella fastidiosa, an emerging pathogen that has become one of the olive oil sector’s main concerns.
Spain’s National Institution for Research and Agrarian Food Technology (INIA) is collaborating with the Interprofessional in the effort.

The Tuscan Regional Phytosanitary Service has released tech­ni­cal guide­lines for mon­i­tor­ing and con­trol­ling the olive fruit fly pop­u­la­tion by grow­ers and tech­ni­cians work­ing on organic and inte­grated farms.
Considered one of the most harm­ful olive tree pests due to the dam­age they cause to both the quan­tity and qual­ity of the fruit, this dipter­ous insect is found in the Mediterranean basin, South Africa, Central and South America, China, Australia and the U.S.

Olive grow­ers are cel­e­brat­ing ​“a sign of hope and rebirth” after har­vest­ing healthy olives from trees recently rein­tro­duced to the Xylella fas­tidiosa-rav­aged region of Puglia.
Farmers from Casarano, a com­mune located close to Lecce at the heel of Italy’s boot, have har­vested olives from their two-year-old trees belong­ing to the Favolosa cul­ti­var (or Fs-17).

La bactérie Xylella fastidiosa, qui s'attaque aux oliviers, a fait l'objet d'une conférence à Ajaccio (Corse-du-Sud), mardi 29 octobre. L'objectif est d'essayer d'appréhender cette maladie qui décime des milliers d'arbres, notamment en Italie, où la récolte est fortement impactée en 2019. Dans le sud du pays, elle fait des ravages depuis plusieurs années, comme à Ugento. Devant les pelleteuses qui arrachent ses arbres, un oléiculteur est au bord des larmes.

The lat­est Xylella fas­tidiosa out­break in Puglia showed how eas­ily the bac­te­ria spreads beyond the already iden­ti­fied areas of con­tain­ment and obser­va­tion.
"We need to change the approach and inten­sify both pre­ven­tion and inter­ven­tion activ­i­ties." - Coldiretti, Ital­ian Farm­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion

A land­mark study on the phe­nol­ogy of spit­tle­bugs may help olive farm­ers and local gov­ern­ments com­bat the spread of Xylella fas­tidiosa in the Mediterranean basin.
Over a period of three years, a team of researchers from Italy’s Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, the University of Turin, the University of Brescia and the University of Bari, stud­ied the repro­duc­tive traits and pop­u­la­tion move­ments of three species of spit­tle­bugs at two dif­fer­ent sites in Italy: one in Puglia (south­ern Italy) and one in Liguria (north­ern Italy).

The study showed that southern Spain and other temperate locations between 40 and 50 degrees latitude are at the greatest risk for the spread of Xylella fastidiosa.

A deadly, fast-spreading bacteria that poses a lethal threat to olive trees has been detected on the Spanish mainland for the first time -- putting half of the world's olive oil supply at risk.