Riccardo Bugiani

Plant Protection Service Emilia-Romagna Region · crop protection

Integrated pest management (IPM) practices proved to be efficient in reducing pesticide use and ensuring economic farming sustainability. Digital decision support systems (DSS) to support the adoption of IPM practices from plant protection services are required by European legislation. Available DSSs used by Italian plant protection services are he...

FIRST OCCURRENCE IN ITALY OF THE CIRCULAR LEAF SPOT OF PERSIMMON CAUSED BY MICOSPHAERELLA NAWAE: PRELIMINARY STUDY ON EPIDEMIOLOGY AND CONTROL OF THE DISEASE In 2018, circular leaf pot of persimmon caused by the ascomycete fungus Mycosphaerella nawae occurred for the first time in Emilia-Romagna (northern Italy). Therefore, in 2019, an aerobiologic...

Aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of powder milk and whey, which is included among the basic substances against grapevine powdery mildew. Two field trials were carried out in a commercial vineyard located in Tebano di Faenza (RA) over two-year period 2018-2019. The study consisted of repeated applications of the tested products at 6-8...

Semi-field and field trials were carried out in 2017-2019 to verify the preventive and curative activity of boric acid for the control of primary and secondary infections of Venturia inaequalis on apple. The semi-field trials were carried out on potted apple plants cv Fuji exposed in the field to receive the natural inoculum of V. inaequalis, perfo...

Rhizoctonia spp. is an important pathogen of the species cultivated for ready-to-use salads. Disease cycle, symptoms and control of the disease in greenhouse are described.

The bacterial disease, caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, is one of the main phytosanitary injuery in wild rocket cultivation. The damages severely decrease the commercial value of the product and there aren't chemicals to reduce the infection impact. The pathogen is seed-trasmetted and survive in water, soil and plant residues. The u...

A forecasting model to predict the kiwifruit bacterial canker infections was developed in New Zealand. In 2012, we started the validation of such forecasting in the kiwifruit growing areas of Emilia-Romagna Region. Validation was carried over 2012-2014, exposing micro-Propagated potted kiwi plantlets under untreated infected plants from march until...

pice o dal bordo si estendono verso la base, fi no a occupare anche l'intera lamina fogliare. Sui frutti i sintomi si manifestano come piccole lesioni necrotiche localiz-zate sulla porzione del frutto più espo-sta alla luce oppure localizzate nella zona calicina del frutto stesso. Si tratta inizialmente di macchie brune super-fi ciali del diametro...

Le infezioni di Pseudomonas syringae pv. su albicocco causano dapprima deprezzamento della produzione e successivamente il deperimento dell’intera pianta. Scelta varietale, materiale vivaistico sano e ambienti con limitata frequenza di gelate sono i principi alla base di una corretta prevenzione della malattia, mentre a oggi il rame resta l’unico a...

ta la superfi cie fogliare e in presenza di adeguate condizioni di temperatu-ra e bagnatura, penetra attivamente all'interno delle cellule del mesofi llo fogliare. Malattia «necrotossica» Il brusone del riso è una malattia «necrotossica», cioè le cellule dei tes-suti invasi sono rapidamente distrutte e il patogeno è in grado di utilizzare il materi...

en Since the first occurrence of Halyomorpha halys (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in Italy in 2012, the pest has spread in the Po Valley causing severe damage in summer 2015, particularly in pear orchards. At present, populations of H. halys have been reported in the regions of Emilia‐Romagna (Modena, Reggio Emilia and Bologna provinces), Piedmont, Lo...

The objective of this report is the collation of existing and innovative non-chemical tools for key pests and diseases of pomefruit in 5 European regions.This report gives also a brief overview of the major pests in apple and pear orchards for the 5 regions in the context of their climatic and common cultivation conditions. The report is meant to b...

“Brown rot” occurs on chestnut nuts, causing browning and mummification of kernels. Causal agent was previously identified as Phoma endogena or as Phomopsis endogena, but recently same symptoms were related to Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyii in Australia and to Gnomoniopsis castanea in Piedmont (Northern Italy), resulting homologous to Gnomoniopsis sp....

Chasmothecia of Erysiphe necator form in one season, survive winter and discharge ascospores that cause primary infections and trigger powdery mildew epidemics in the next season. A strategy for powdery mildew control was developed based on (i) the reduction in overwintering chasmothecia and on (ii) spring fungicide applications to control ascospor...

Caffi, T., Legler, S. E., Rossi, V., and Bugiani, R. 2012. Evaluation of a warning system for early-season control of grapevine powdery mildew. Plant Dis. 96:104-110. In several grape-growing areas of the world, including northern Italy, powdery mildew epidemics, caused by Erysiphe necator, are mainly triggered by the ascospores produced in overwin...

A new dynamic model for Erysiphe necator ascosporic infections on grapevine was developed. Between budbreak of vines and the time when the pool of ascospores is depleted, the model uses weather data for calculating, at daily intervals: curve of ascospore maturation; ascospore discharge events and relative proportion of the discharged ascospores; in...

A warning system based on (i) a model that simulates the development of all cohorts of Plasmopara viticola oospores, from oospore germination to infection; (ii) short-term weather forecasts; and (iii) a mobile phone short message system was tested in Northern Italy, from 2006 to 2008. An unsprayed control was compared with a "Warning A" treatment (...

Stemphylium vesicarium, the causal agent of brown spot of pear, overwinters in the leaf residues of pear and herbaceous plants of the orchard floor. Pseudothecia of the teleomorph, Pleospora allii, are formed on these residues where they produce ascospores. New methods were tested aimed at reducing this overwintering inoculum and increasing the eff...

Desde 2001 se observan en viñedos de Córdoba, Argentina, hojas de Vitis vinifera y V. labrusca con manchas cloróticas y centro necrótico. Las plantas presentan nervaduras, pecíolos, raquis y entrenudos con puntos necróticos que al confluir agrietan el tejido cortical. Las bayas pueden marchitarse y desprenderse. En invierno los sarmientos toman col...

A dynamic model for Plasmopara viticola primary infections was evaluated by comparing model predictions with disease onset in: (i) 100 vineyards of northern, southern and insular Italy (1995 to 2007); (ii) 42 groups of potted grapevine plants exposed to inoculum (2006 to 2008). The model simulates the development of any oospore cohort during the pr...

Leaves with chlorotic spots and necrotic centers have been observed in Vitis vinifera and V. labrusca in vineyards of Córdoba, Argentina, since 2001. Plants exhibit veins, petioles, rachises, and internodes with necrotic spots that coalesce to form cracks in the cortical tissue. Grape berries can shrivel and fall off. Winter canes became whitish wi...

Airborne ascospores of Venturia pirina were trapped at two sites in northern Italy in 2002 to 2008. The cumulative proportion of ascospores trapped at each discharge was regressed against the physiological time. The best fit (R(2) = 0.90, standard error of estimates [SEest] = 0.11) was obtained using a Gompertz equation and the degree-days (>0 degr...

A 6-year study was carried out in an apple-growing region of North Italy by trapping airborne ascospores of Venturia inaequalis with a volumetric spore trap operated continuously during the ascospore season, with the aim of better defining the weather conditions that allow ascospores both to discharge and to disperse into the orchard air. A total o...

The Integrated Production project in Emilia-Romagna involves 152 technicians and covers 7300 farms over more than 50 000 ha. The use of forecasting models is an important part of the pest control strategy, so a warning service using forecasting models integrated with biological data from field surveys is fundamental in further improving the potenti...

The dynamics of the production of Stemphylium vesicarium conidia and Pleospora allii ascospores from different inoculum sources on the ground were compared in a model system of a wildflower meadow mainly composed of yellow foxtail, creeping cinquefoil and white clover. The meadow was either inoculated (each October) or not inoculated with a virulen...

A dynamic model for Plasmopara viticola primary infections on grapevine was elaborated according to a mechanistic approach. Development of the sexual stage of the pathogen was split into different state variables, in which changes from one state to another were regulated by rates depending on environmental conditions. The conceptual model was based...

The effects of environmental conditions on the variability in germination dynamics of Plasmopara viticola oospores were studied from 1999 to 2003. The germination course was determined indirectly as the relative infection incidence (RII) occurring on grape leaf discs kept in contact with oospores sampled from a vineyard between March and July. The...

A-scab (Apple-scab) is a dynamic simulation model for Venturia inaequalis primary infections on apple. It simulates development of pseudothecia, ascospore maturation, discharge, deposition and infection during the season based on hourly data of air temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and leaf wetness. A-scab produces a risk index for each infe...

Field evaluation of different DSS (decision support systems) for correct timing of chemical sprays was carried out over years 2001-2004, and compared with a routine disease control strategy. In 2001and 2002, MISP, Fry and Simphyt II and III models were compared while in 2003 and 2004 only MISP and Simphyt II and III were tested. All the DSS were te...

Seven-day volumetric spore samplers were installed in pear orchards of northern Italy, in the years between 1993 and 2002, and operated continuously during the development of brown spot epidemics (mid-April–mid-August), caused by Stemphylium vesicarium. Aerial concentration of conidia was recorded at 2h intervals to study their diurnal and seasonal...

The inoculum sources of ascospores of Pleospora allii and of conidia of its anamorph Stemphylium vesicarium were investigated in relation to the brown spot disease epidemiology on pear. Dead and living leaves of three pear varieties (Abate Ftel, Conference and William), seven grasses (Poa pratensis, Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Lolium perenne, Dig...

A dynamic model simulating the life cycle of Plasmopara viticola, from overwintering oospores to the appearance of pri- mary symptoms on grape leaves, was elaborated in order to obtain accurate and robust information about the risk for downy mildew infections during the primary inoculum season. The model was elaborated according to the systems anal...

Based on existing physical theories and models, a dynamic model estimating the concentration of Venturia inaequalis ascospores in the orchard air and their deposition on apple leaves was elaborated. The model produces two main outputs: number of ascospores deposited per leaf and proportion of ascospores discharged from pseudothecia deposited onto t...

Abstract The influence of air temperature on the release pattern of Venturia inaequalis ascospores was studied by volumetric spore samplers in two spore sampling periods. In the first period (1991–1996; Passo Segni, Ferrara), 15 ascospore dispersal events were considered occurring in daylight, with high spore counts (168–5892 ascospores per m3 air...

A 6-year study was carried out to evaluate the accuracy of some models in estimating airborne ascospores of Venturia inaequalis. The proportion of the season’s ascospores trapped on each discharge event was compared with the proportion of mature ascospores, estimated by the New Hampshire model or by some related models. The models differed from eac...

A forecasting model (BSPcast) developed for prediction of brown spot (Stemphylium vesicarium) of pear was evaluated as an advisory system for reduced fungicide use in disease management programs. Eleven trials were performed during 1995, 1996, and 1997 in five orchards in two different climatic areas in Catalunya (Spain) and Emilia-Romagna (Italy)....

A system was elaborated to estimate the dynamics of primary inoculum of Venturia inaequalis in apple orchards. It separates the primary inoculum season into five periods with different risks: absent (ascospores not yet mature); potential (ascospores mature but not yet ready to be discharged); actual (ascospores can be discharged when favourable con...

Brown spot of European pear (Pyrus communis L.) caused by Stemphylium vesicarium (Wallr.) E. Simmons is a disease of economic importance in fruit-growing areas of southern Europe. The pathogen produces two host-specific SV-toxins (SV-toxin I and II) in culture filtrates, which selectively induce veinal necrosis only on susceptible cultivars. Ultras...

SUMMARY A simple model estimating the seasonal pattern of air-borne ascospores of Venturia inaequalis was elabo- rated, by using spore trapping records collected during a 6-year period (1991-1996) in the Po Valley (North Italy). The model estimates the proportion of the sea- son's ascospores trapped by using weather factors which occur after the fi...

ABSTRACT Culture filtrates of a pathogenic isolate (IT37) of Stemphylium vesicarium, causing brown spot of European pear, induced veinal necrosis only on pear leaves susceptible to the pathogen. Two host-specific toxins, SV-toxins I and II, were purified from culture filtrates of IT37 by successively using Amberlite XAD-2 resin adsorption, cellulos...

Recently in Italy, Alternaria black spot-like symptoms were observed on leaves and petioles of the strawberry cultivars Cesena, Dana, and Miss. The pathogen was identified as Alternaria alternata based on conidial morphology. Isolates of the fungus from Italy were pathogenic to susceptible cultivars of Japanese pear as well as strawberry among diff...

Late blight caused byPhytophthora infestans is one of the most important diseases of tomato crops in Emilia Romagna. In total, 7–8 chemical sprays are applied per season to control the disease without taking into account the risk of infection. An integrated warning service for the prediction of tomato late blight was set up in order to define a mor...

The Emilia-Romagna region is one of the leading areas in Italy for its high production of industrial tomatoes. A warning service for the occurrence of late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans has been operating for 3 years in the region. Its aim is to reduce the number of sprays which are usually carried out on tomato crops to prevent the disea...