Research on Xylella carried out in POnTE arose the interest of the audience at SIPAV meeting

POnTE Project and the research carried out within the Consortium were on the spot at the XXII National Congress of the Italian Society of Plant Pathology (SIPAV), held in Rome from 19 to 22 September 2016, and organized by the Plant Pathology Research Centre of the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economy Analysis (CREA-PAV).

More than 200 delegates registered for the annual meeting of SIPAV followed with great concern the dedicated session covering research progress and updates on the current knowledge on Xylella fastidiosa, that was animated by a consistent contribution given by the members of the H2020 Consortium POnTE.

Dr. Boscia, Project Coordinator, had the role of presenting POnTE in its general organization, main expected outcomes and connection with the other initiatives financed by the EC to counteract the threatening introduction of Xylella fastidiosa in the EU territory.

Many of the currently ongoing activities aim to extend the scientific background, to develop an integrated control strategy and to raise awareness on this plant pathogenic bacterium.  The contributions presented at the congress included the development of detection tools and monitoring methods (Dr. Loconsole), vector transmission experiments (Dr. Cavalieri), search for tolerant olive germplasm (Dr. Saldarelli and Dr. Morelli), strategies for biological control (Dr. D’Attoma), assessment of the natural host range (Dr. Potere and Dr. Susca), representing CNR-IPSP and UNIBA-DiSSPA in a joint research team with CRSFA “Basile Caramia”, IAS-CSIC and FA-UB.

All those contributions, whose abstracts will be soon made available in the open access section of this website, encountered a great favor from the convenors, raising several questions and fruitful exchanges of opinions.