Seminar held at INIA Rayentué (Rengo), brought together leading professionals, within the framework of a project executed by said research center.
Bacterial canker in cherry is the disease that most concerns one of the most important fruit sectors in Chile and that produces the greatest commercial movement, especially in the central part of the country. For this reason, and within the framework of the launch of a project executed by INIA Rayentué with contributions from the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), a seminar was held that brought together prominent scientists and researchers in the field.
“Can Bacterial Cancer in Cherry Trees Be Controlled?: Current and Future Recommendations” was the name of the activity, which included the opening keynote lecture by the renowned plant pathologist Dr. Andrés France, who presented the main recommendations for controlling the disease. He was also joined by lectures by USACH academic Dr. Antonio Castillo, Dr. Paulina Vega (UTSM-PUCV) and Dr (c). Andreé Álvarez, from the University of O'Higgins.
Also present was Dr. Boris Sagredo, INIA Rayentué researcher and director of the project “Tools to determine the characteristics of the population of the causal agent of bacterial cancer in cherry trees: Generating key information for the development of sustainable control strategies”, which has ANID IDeA 2022 funding and will extend until 2024.
Regarding this fund, which begins its execution through the aforementioned seminar, Dr. Sagredo indicated that “Antimicrobial compounds based on copper are mainly used for preventive purposes in the control of bacterial canker in cherry trees, but their intensive use is generating environmental concerns due to soil contamination, phytotoxicity and resistance of bacteria to copper. The objective of our project is to learn more about the causal agent, the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv syringae (Pss), in order to promote the development of integrated disease management systems that require copper applications. We know the importance of this fruit for the country's economy, and that is why we have put our efforts into understanding and then controlling this bacterium, in order to provide certainties and solutions to the cherry industry.”
The seminar was attended by representatives from the public and private sectors, who valued the opportunity to provide knowledge, and were able to ask all the necessary questions to clarify doubts regarding the management of the bacteria, queries that were answered in depth by each of the specialists who gave talks.
The bacteria Pseudomonas syringae pv syringae (Pss) can cause economic losses of 75% in the first years of planting and between 10-20% in adult plants. The losses caused by the disease are the most significant from a health point of view, without the industry having effective tools for its control. Currently, the loss of productivity is estimated at orders of 5-50% of the productive potential, depending on the property, the location, the management of the orchard and the rootstock-variety combination.
