Xylella fastidiosa (Xf), a quarantine phytopathogenic bacterium with xylem localization, is capable of infecting, often with lethal outcome, numerous plant species. In Europe the bacterium was reported for the first time in 2013 in Italy, where in the Salento peninsula (Apulia Region) a new biotype (strain ST53) of the pauca subspecies (Xfp) is responsible for rapid olive tree desiccation (OQDS), which has already affected millions of plants, generating great concerns for the oliviculture of the entire Mediterraean basin.

In the Salento peninsula the disease spreading is facilitated by a conducive climate, an abundant presence of its main insect vector (Philaenus spumarius - the meadow spittlebug) as well as the widespread presence of susceptible native olive tree cultivars (cvs).

Currently, quarantine, monitoring and containment measures do not guarantee adequate prevention of new Xfp infections and replanting with resistant olive trees cvs contributes only in part to the recovery of olive growing in the infected areas, where the native varieties, despite being very sensitive to Xfp, have been well adapted to the environment for centuries.

The antibacterial products tested, although in some cases alleviating disease symptoms, do not show satisfactory effectiveness in the field and are not able to eradicate the pathogen from infected plants. A coordinated research effort is therefore necessary to identify and implement more efficient products and strategies to fight the bacterium.

In this scenario, the project, which involves multidisciplinary approaches, traditional and innovative methodologies aims to select, evaluate and transfer to the olive production sector new products and effective strategies to be applied trough an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach.

To optimize their application, the most effective control tools will also be studied by advanced biochemical and molecular-genetic techniques to elucidate their mechanisms of direct action on the pathogen and/or indirect action on the plant.