From 'Fire Esca' to 'Esca of Grapevine'

The use of tinder (‘esca’ or ‘amadou’) prepared from basidiocarps of some bracket fungi, e.g. Fomes fomentarius and Phellinus igniarius as an easy-to-burn matter goes back to the man’s conquest of fire. Archaeological finds, such as fragments of tinder, flint-stones and traces of pyrite carried by the ‘Ice man’ on his way across the Alps more than 5,000 years ago, bear evidence of the use of tinder in the Neolithic age. In 1926, on the assumption that P. igniarius was one of the pathogens of the so-called ‘apoplexy’ of grapevine, the name ‘esca’ was given to the disease. For long time, esca was thought to affect old vines only. In the last decades, however, various forms of the disease have been found to be widespread and to cause losses even to young vines. Aetiological studies have shown that esca of grapevine is a complex disease, incited by wilt-inducing ascomycetes (Togninia, Phaeoacremonium, Phaeomoniella) and/or the wood-decaying basidiomycete Fomitiporia mediterranea. Since the latter is not a tinder fungus, the advisability of retaining the name ‘esca’ for the disease is discussed

Federico Cesi's Mycological Codex and its copies

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Use of beneficial bacteria and their secondary metabolites to control grapevine pathogen diseases

Grapevine is one of the most important economic crops yielding berries, wine products as well as derivates. However, due to the large array of pathogens inducing diseases on this plant, considerable amounts of pesticides—with possible negative impact on the environment and health—have been used and are currently used in viticulture. To avoid negative impacts of such products and to ensure product quality, a substantial fraction of pesticides needs to be replaced in the near future. One solution can be related to the use of beneficial bacteria inhabiting the rhizo- and/or the endosphere of plants. These biocontrol bacteria and their secondary metabolites can reduce directly or indirectly pathogen diseases by affecting pathogen performance by antibiosis, competition for niches and nutrients, interference with pathogen signaling or by stimulation of host plant defenses. Due to the large demand for biocontrol of grapevine diseases, such biopesticides, their modes of actions and putative consequences of their uses need to be described. Moreover, the current knowledge on new strains from the rhizo- and endosphere and their metabolites that can be used on grapevine plants to counteract pathogen attack needs to be discussed. This is in particular with regard to the control of root rot, grey mould, trunk diseases, powdery and downy mildews, pierce’s disease, grapevine yellows as well as crown gall. Future prospects on specific beneficial microbes and their secondary metabolites that can be used as elicitors of plant defenses and/or as biocontrol agents with potential use in a more sustainable viticulture will be further discussed