Survey of Botryosphaeriaceae associated with grapevine decline in the Hunter Valley and Mudgee grape growing regions of New South Wales

Abstract

Species belonging to the fungal family Botryosphaeriaceae are important pathogens of grapevines in Australia. A survey of declining grapevines in the Hunter Valley and Mudgee grape growing regions of New South Wales revealed 36% were infected with species belonging to the Botryosphaeriaceae. The incidence of Diplodia seriata was greatest, followed by Neofusicoccum parvum, Botryosphaeria dothidea and Lasiodiplodia theobromae. These identifications were made using a combination of molecular and morphological characters. Although D. seriata was the most common species found, its role as a primary pathogen of grapevines in Australia is yet to be ascertained. The accuracy of estimating the incidence of species was increased by surveying up to 25 grapevines per vineyard and by sampling both the trunks and cordons. Other pathogens capable of causing trunk diseases were also isolated in this survey, demonstrating that diagnosis based on symptoms alone is not sufficient and isolations on artificial media and sometimes DNA sequencing are required for a definitive diagnosis of the causal organism of decline.

Incidence and distribution of botryosphaeriaceous species in New Zealand vineyards

“…This finding differs to that in other surveys that found D. seriata to be the predominant species in California (Úrbez-Torres et al 2006a), Western Australia (Taylor et al 2005), New South Wales (Pitt et al 2010;Qiu et al 2010), South Australia (Pitt et al 2010) and South Africa (van Niekerk et al 2004). The incidence of D. seriata (16%) in New Zealand, however, is similar to those found in Australia (15-19%) (Taylor et al 2005;Pitt et al 2010) and California (20%) (Úrbez-Torres et al 2006a).…”

“…As the nine species recovered in the survey have all been demonstrated as pathogenic to grapevines in other studies, in New Zealand and throughout the world, their presence in symptomatic grapevine trunks suggests that they contribute to trunk decline and disease in New Zealand. Similar findings have been reported in Texas ), California (Úrbez-Torres et al 2006a), Mexico (Úrbez-Torres et al 2008), Spain (Úrbez-Torres et al 2006b) and Australia (CastilloPando et al 2001;Taylor et al 2005;Qiu et al 2010) in which botryosphaeriaceous species were the dominant fungi isolated from symptomatic grapevine material.…”

“…Thus, the current study which investigates the national distribution of species in 43 vineyards with recovery of 336 isolates, encompassing nine botryosphaeriaceous species, solely from symptomatic grapevines provides a comprehensive list of species in grapevines and their geographical distribution in New Zealand. The botryosphaeriaceous species found in the current study have been reported in other grape growing regions worldwide (van Niekerk et al 2004;Taylor et al 2005;Úrbez-Torres et al 2006aÚrbez-Torres et al , b, 2008Pitt et al 2010;Qiu et al 2010). A notable difference between New Zealand and other countries is the absence of L. theobromae in the current study.…”

“…while their conidia resembled those of N. australe. These were presumptively identified as Botryosphaeria dothidea (Qiu et al 2010). …”

Biodiversity of fungi on Vitis vinifera L. revealed by traditional and high-resolution culture-independent approaches

“…Roesleriaceae P Root rot Japan Kobayashi (2007) Fungal Diversity Qiu et al (2011), Ú rbez-Torres (2011), Diaz et al (2013), Pitt et al (2013Pitt et al ( , 2015, Li et al (2014), Carlucci et al (2015, Pavlic-Zupanc et al (2015), Valencia et al (2015), Comont et al (2016) Teng (1996) Fungal Diversity …”