Blotch Continued from Page 4
which gave $100,000. Another $450,000 came from FPS. In addition, the CDFA Pierce’s Disease and Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Board has awarded $648,000 to propagate and test priority grapevine selections in the new greenhouse. The greenhouse will be the reposito- ry—“kind of like the ground zero”—for clean plant material in the U.S. for “mul- tiple decades,” said Dustin Hopper, the Improvement Advisory Board chairman. By repelling virus-carrying vectors, Hooper said it will benefit “not only the grapevine industry, but it can be used for many of the different crops that FPS grows.” “We were lucky enough to have some excess funds available, so we chose to step up and support the project (to show) that we are committed to FPS for the long term,” Hooper added. “This is a long-term investment for FPS.” Al Rwahnih said FPS is grateful for the support, as the fight against grapevine red blotch disease continues. He said virus likely won’t be wiped out anytime soon. “Like COVID-19, red blotch is here to stay,” he said. “It is too complex. Now, it’s all about the best disease manage- ment strategies.” (Edgar Sanchez is a reporter based in Sacramento. He may be contacted at edgar.chez@yahoo.com.)
insect vectors that transmit the disease. Their work is funded by a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Additional research is un- derway at New York’s Cornell University. FPS first detected red blotch in late summer 2017 at its Russell Ranch vineyard in Davis. Then, five vines—or 0.1% of the total tested—had the disease. Recently, nearly 50% of the Russell Ranch vines were infected, Al Rwahnih said. “Russell Ranch cannot be restored,” he said. Red blotch has been detected on less than 1% of the vines at FPS’s second vine- yard called the Classic, and it remains op- erational for now. But no more grapes will be grown at Russell Ranch, and propagation materi- als from that vineyard are no longer being sold. The property will be used for crops such as roses, pistachios, olives and fruit trees, which red blotch doesn’t harm. “We’re pretty confident grapevines are the only host of this virus,” Oberholster noted. Researchers say the virus may have been transmitted to the Davis vineyards by three-cornered alfalfa hoppers or other pests. Al Rwahnih said three-cornered alfal- fa hoppers—green insects with clear wings that feed on alfalfa and grapevines—have been captured at both FPS vineyards. “We know that under greenhouse conditions, the three-cornered alfalfa hopper can transmit the virus, and we
Maher Al Rwahnih, director of Foundation Plant Services at the University of California, Davis, says vineyard stock had to be moved to protect the materials from red blotch and other disease threats.
Al Rwahnih said. “We decided the best way forward was to put the vines under a screenhouse, or greenhouse protection, away from insect vectors.” Agricultural groups have provided $4.6 million toward building the first FPS green- house on the Davis campus. That includes $4 million from the California Fruit Tree, Nut Tree and Grapevine Improvement Advisory Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Other funders include the California Grape Rootstock Research Foundation, which provided $500,000, and the California Grape Rootstock Commission,
have other option insects that we are currently looking into,” said Oberholster, who is coordinating research to identify the vineyard culprits. “We’re at the stage where we’re almost certain that the three-cornered alfalfa hopper is not the only vector” spreading the virus, she added. She said preliminary transmission studies at UC Berkeley point to another vector as also transmitting it. But she said researchers still “need to be certain” be- fore announcing findings. Meanwhile, FPS is reaching out to California’s grape nurseries for assistance in guarding against red blotch spreading. “We had a meeting with the industry,”
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August 24, 2022 Ag Alert 5
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