The potential direct economic impact and private management costs of an invasive alien species:Xylella fastidiosa on Lebanese wine grapes

Since its outbreak in 2013 in Italy, the harmful bacterium Xylella fastidiosa has continued to spread through-out the Euro-Mediterranean basin and, more recently, in the Middle East region. Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa is the causal agent of Pierce’s disease on grapevines. At present, this alien subspecies has not been reported in Lebanon but if this biological invader was to spread with no cost-effective and sustainable management, it would put Lebanese vineyards at a certain level of risk. In the absence of an Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa outbreak, the gross revenue generated by Lebanese wine growers is estimated as close to US$22 million/year for an average period of 5 years (2015–2019). The potential quantitative economic impacts of an Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa outbreak and particularly, the private control costs have not been assessed yet for this country as well as for others which Xylella fastidiosa may invade. Here, we have aimed to estimate the potential direct economic impact on growers’ livelihoods and provide the first estimate of the private management costs that a theoretical Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa outbreak in Lebanon would involve. For this purpose, we used a Partial Budget approach at the farm gate. For the country as a whole, we estimated that a hypothetical full spread of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa on Lebanese wine grapes would lead to maximum potential gross revenue losses of almost US$ 11 million for an average recovery period of4 years, to around US$82.44 million for an average grapevine life span period of 30 years in which infected plants are not replaced at all. The first yearly estimated additional management cost is US$853 per potentially infected hectare. For a recovery period of 4 years, the aggregate estimated additional cost would reach US$2374/ha, while the aggregate net change in profit would be US$-4046/ha. Furthermore, additional work will be needed to estimate the public costs of an Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa outbreak in Lebanon. The observed costs in this study support the concerned policy makers and stakeholders to implement a set of reduction management options against Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa at both national and wine growers’ levels. This re-emerging alien biota should not be neglected in this country. This understanding of thepotential direct economic impact of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa and the private management costs can also benefit further larger-scale studies covering other potential infection areas and plant hosts

Immunomodulatory effects of palladium(II) complexes of 1,2,4-triazole on murine peritoneal macrophages

The 1,2,4-triazolyl-bridged polynuclear complexes [{PdCl(2)(mu-Htrz)}(n)] (1) and [{PdBr(2)(mu-Htrz)}(n)] (2) have been obtained in this work. Compound 1 is prepared by the displacement of acetonitrile from [PdCl(2)(MeCN)(2)] by 1,2,4-triazole (Htrz). Further addition of potassium bromide to the reaction medium afforded complex 2. The new complexes have been isolated, purified and characterized by means of elemental analysis, IR and UV-visible electronic spectroscopies and thermogravimetric (TG) curves. The experimental data suggested that, in both cases, the coordination of 1,2,4-Htrz takes place through the N(2) and N(4) atoms, bridging the palladium centers. The square-planar coordination polyhedron of palladium(II) is determined by two nitrogen atoms from the triazole ligands, while the other two coordination positions are occupied by the chloro (1) or bromo (2) ligands. TG curves indicated that the nature of the anionic ligand does not affect significantly the thermal stability of 1 and 2. The final products of the thermal decompositions were identified as metallic palladium by X-ray powder diffractometry. Preliminary tests involving the evaluation of the effects of compounds 1, 2 and Htrz on H(2)O(2) and NO production in cultures of peritoneal macrophages from BALB/c mice were carried out in vitro

Health-Nutrients and Origin Awareness: Implications for Regional Wine Market-Segmentation Strategies Using a Latent Analysis

A healthy-nutrient wine has been recently developed by Apulian wineries (southern Italy), using autochthonous wine grapes cultivars, selected strains and specific processes of production. As such, this research elicits Italian wine consumers’ preferences towards this innovative Apulian wine with regard to additional labelling information associated with health-nutrients and the origin of grapes on the bottle of wine. For this purpose, a social survey based on the choice experiment approach is considered. The results reveal a heterogeneity of preferences among respondents for which the origin of wine grapes cultivars is the most appreciated (an average Willingness-to-Pay of EUR 6.57), thereby inducing an increase in their function utility, while the health-nutrients attribute is relatively less appreciated (an average Willingness-to-Pay of EUR 3.95). Furthermore, four class consumers’ cluster profile have been identified in respect to their: (i) behavior and propensity to wine consumption and purchase, (ii) health-claims importance on the wine bottle label, (iii) socio-economic characteristics and (iv) health conditions. This paper has marketing and public implications and contributes to an understanding of how additional information on the label of a wine bottle may affect the market-segmentation, influence wine consumers’ utility, protect their health and increase their level of awareness to wine ingredients labelling

Socio-Economic Risks Posed by a New Plant Disease in the Mediterranean Basin

Xylella fastidiosa (Wells 1987, hereafter Xf), the causal agent of several devastating plant diseases, is threatening new countries of the Euro-Mediterranean, Balkans, Middle East, and North Africa (MENA) regions. In this perspective, a study was carried out to: (a) explore the potential establishment and spread and losses caused by Xf in Euro-Mediterranean countries (i.e., France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) and the Balkans (i.e., Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia); (b) assess the potential introduction of Xf in the MENA countries (i.e., Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey); and (c) project the socio-economic impacts of Xf on olives, grapes, citrus, and almonds in these countries. A novel socio-economic risk assessment technique was developed and applied for these purposes. It revealed that Albania had the highest risk for Xf dispersal. In addition, the risk assessment also confirmed the vulnerability of Euro-Mediterranean countries in terms of Xf dispersal. In the MENA and Balkans regions, countries with fragmented and small farms are likely to face the worst social impacts, whereas the Euro-Mediterranean region runs the highest economic losses on the target crops. © 2022 by the authors

Nursery Plant Production Models under Quarantine Pests’ Outbreak: Assessing the Environmental Implications and Economic Viability

The Apulia (southern Italy) ornamental sector has been facing regulatory obligations and trade limitations due to a Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) outbreak since 2013. Alternative options to encounter these constraints include the implementation of novel and sustainable ornamental production (NSM) practices. In this context, the purpose of this study is to assess simultaneously the environmental implications and economic viability of these options versus the conventional production options (CMs) among eight ornamental species (Abelia grandiflora, Bougainvillea cv Don Mario, Lantana camara cv Bandana rosa, Jasminum officinalis, Photinia fraseri cv Red Robin, Loropetalum chinense cv Black Pearl, Trachelospermum jasminoides, Viburnum lucidum). Life cycle assessment (LCA) and cost–benefit analysis (CBA) were used for this purpose. LCA revealed that NSM induced relatively less environmental impacts at the nursery level towards agricultural land occupation, climate change, fossil depletion, and water depletion. CBA showed that NSM increases moderately nursery business profitability in an economic sustainable way. An overall annual average gross margin of about EUR 192/1000 plants can be generated using NSM over the CM model. In general, this research provides a useful decision-support, helping nursery growers under the pressure of the threat of quarantine pests such as Xf to adopt NSM practices, which could be useful to produce ornamental and landscape plants with high sanitary quality

Thermal study of nickel(II) pyrazolyl complexes

The thermal behavior of the pyrazolyl complexes [NiCl2(HPz) 4] (1), [Ni(NCS)2(HPz)4] (2), [NiCl 2(HdmPz)4]·2H2O (3) and [Ni(NCS) 2(HdmPz)4]·2H2O (4) (HPz=pyrazole, HdmPz=3,5-dimethylpyrazole) has been studied by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The TG data indicated that the thermal stability of [NiX2(HL)4] (X=Cl, NCS) compounds varies depending on the pyrazolyl ligand in the following order HL=HPz>HdmPz. From the thermal decomposition of 3 and 4 it was possible to isolate the intermediate compounds [Ni(μ-Cl)2(HdmPz)2] (3a) and [Ni(μ-1,3-NCS) 2(HdmPz)2] (4a), respectively. The final products of the thermal decompositions of 1-4 were identified as NiO by X-ray powder diffraction. © 2005 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest

Thermal decomposition of palladium(II) pyrazolyl complexes. Part I

The thermal behavior of simple and mixed pyrazolyl complexes [PdCl2(phmPz)(2)] (1),[Pd(N-3)(2)(phmPz)(2)] (2), [Pd(SCN)(2)(phmPz)(2)] (3), and [Pd(N-3)(SCN)(phmPz)(2)] (4) (phmPz: 1-phenyl-3-methylpyrazole) has been investigated by means of thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). From the initial decomposition temperatures, the thermal stability of the complexes can be ordered in the sequence: 4 < 2 < 3 < 1. The final products of the thermal decompositions were characterized as metallic palladium (Pd-0). (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Synthesis and structural characterization of dichlorobis (1-phenyl-3-methylpyrazole) palladium(II) and diazidobis (1-phenyl-3-methylpyrazole) palladiium(II)

Mononuclear pyrazolyl Pd(II) complexes of the type [PdX2(phmPz)(2)] (X = Cl-, N-3(-)) have been prepared. The 1-phenyl-3-methylpyrazole displaces acetonitrile from [PdCl2(CH3CN)(2)] to form [PdCl2(PhMPz)(2)] (phmPz = 1-phenyl-3-methylpyrazole) (1). [Pd(N-3)(2)(PhmPz)(2)] (2) could be obtained by metathesis from [PdCl2(CH3CN)(2)] or by substitution of the chloride in (1) by the azide ion. Both complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, H-1 and C-13 NMR and by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The coordination geometry around Pd(II) in these complexes is nearly square-planar, with the ligands in a trans configuration