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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Plant Pathology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316182
Title: Sharka epidemiology and worldwide management strategies: learning lessons to optimize disease control in perennial plants

Author
item RIMBAUD, LOUP - Montpellier Supagro – International Center For High Education In Agricultural Sciences
item DALLOT, SYLVIE - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
item Gottwald, Timothy
item DECROOCQ, VERONIQUE - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
item JACQUOT, EMMANUEL - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
item SOUBEYRAND, SAMUEL - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
item THEBAUD, GAEL - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA)

Submitted to: Annual Review of Phytopathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/2/2015
Publication Date: 8/1/2015
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/62839
Citation: Rimbaud, L., Dallot, S., Gottwald, T.R., Decroocq, V., Jacquot, E., Soubeyrand, S., Thebaud, G. 2015. Sharka epidemiology and worldwide management strategies: learning lessons to optimize disease control in perennial plants. Annual Review of Phytopathology. 53:357-378. doi: 10.1146/annurev-phyto-080614-120140.

Interpretive Summary: Plum pox (also known as sharka in Europe) is a disease of stone fruits throughout Europe is also spread to the Western hemisphere within the last 25 years. Successful eradication campaigns for introductions of plum pox have occurred in Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan. In Canada plum pox was also eradicated in Nova Scotia, but failed in Niagara, Ontario, Canada. The disease causes a weakening of the tree, ring spots on foliage, and a loss of fruit quality due to being spots in malformations of the fruit. Is also an international quarantine pathogen and results in fruit trade barriers. This manuscript represents a review of the various epidemics of plum pox worldwide and the control strategies that have been used to eradicate indoor mitigate the disease. It is a comparison of the efficacy of the control methodologies as well. It is a retrospective analysis of the performance of eradication campaigns in various countries and states and precise control methodologies applied in an attempt to identify those control/mitigation strategies and their relative performance. The intent is to provide an overview of various management strategies and their performance that can be used by regulatory agencies, stonefruit industries, and researchers to improve the response to this disease both in endemic areas and for areas where the disease is newly introduced.

Technical Abstract: Many plant epidemics that cause major economic losses cannot be controlled with pesticides. Among them, sharka epidemics severely affect prunus trees worldwide. Its causal agent, Plum pox virus (PPV;, genus Potyvirus), has been classified as a quarantine pathogen in numerous countries. As a result, various management strategies have been implemented in different regions of the world, depending on the epidemiological context and on the objective (i.e., eradication, suppression, containment, or resilience). These strategies have exploited virus-free planting material, varietal improvement, surveillance and removal of trees in orchards, and statistical models. Variations on these management options lead to contrasted outcomes, from successful eradication to widespread presence of PPV in orchards. Here, we present management strategies in the light of sharka epidemiology to gain insights from this worldwide experience. Although focused on sharka, this review highlights more general levers and promising approaches to optimize disease control in perennial plants.