South Africa’s training session: Practices and techniques to manage grapevine yellows
On August 5th and 12th, South Africa held a TropicSafe training session on the topic of Practices and techniques to manage grapevine yellows. Divided into three main sessions, expert researchers shared knowledge on the grapevine yellows issue. After the presentation, there was space for discussion on the topics between the participants present in the training session.
Assunta Bertaccini, a plant pathology professor at the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna (UNIBO) and TropicSafe project coordinator, was in charge of opening the program and gave the floor to her fellow peers. A summary of the History of detection and symptoms in South Africa was given by expert viticulturist Jeff Joubert, from Vinpro, followed by prof. Gerhard Pietersen (Stellenbosch University)’s explanation on the Method of sampling and collection. The Methods of phytoplasma detection were explained by Pathos Solutions’ founder Gert Pietersen and then prof. Kerstin Krüger (University of Pretoria) continued the session by talking about Insect vectors, alternate host plant species. Following topics, Biological and genetic characteristics of aster yellows infecting grapevine in South Africa and Grapevine yellows under diverse agro-ecological conditions in Italy were addressed by prof. Johan Burger (Stellenbosch University) and researcher Nicoletta Contaldo (UNIBO), respectively. Prof. Nicola Fiore (University of Chile) closed the session with a quick look at the Grapevine yellows situation in Chile.
The event was targeted to professors and students, technical advisers, consultants and farmers, and plant protection organizations. On August 5th, it gathered 24 producers and viticulturists, and on the 12th, a total of 36 agricultural and chemical advisors, farmers, and cellar masters, divided into two sessions.
You can check the presentations on our Youtube channel! And don’t forget to subscribe to be up-to-date on the best TropicSafe content!
