DISTRIBUTION OF BOTRYOSPHAERIACEAE SPECIES ASSOCIATED WITH GRAPEVINE DECLINE IN WESTERN SICILY.

Recently, the pathogenicity of different Botryosphaeraceae species on grapevines has been reported from many European and extra-European areas. During summer 2008, in a Sicilian vineyard located in the Marsala area (TP), we observed a decline induced by Lasiodiplodia theobromae. The occurrence and quite rapid spread of the disease seemed to support the regional variability of the species in question, which is retained a tropical and subtropical pathogen to different trees. In the last two years, the decline syndrome has been observed in the following other grape-growing areas of western and central Sicily: Alcamo and Salemi (TP), Montevago (AG) and Milena (CL). From declining plants showing typical external and internal symptoms of spurs, canes and trunks, fungal isolates were obtained in pure and/or mixed culture and were identified, by morphological and molecular analysis, as L. theobromae, Diplodia seriata and Neofusicoccum luteum. These results, even if preliminary, show the rapid spread of the grapevine decline by Botryosphaeraceae species in Sicily confirming, at the same time, their different distribution in relation to environmental conditions of the surveyed areas. Pathogenicity tests are in progress to ascertain the role of these fungi in the evoking of the decline syndrome.