Department of Plant Pathology  Faculty of Agriculture ESCA OF GRAPEVINES IN SOUTH AFRICA Chana-Lee White Francois Halleen and Lizel Mostert Presented by Jan Booysen

2 What is Esca? Affects trunk and arms of older grapevines Disease complex producing overall syndrome 2 distinct diseases Wood rot Brown wood streaking

3 History of Esca in South Africa Little information on Esca Few incidences found Only symptoms observed Since 2001, Esca diseased vines have been collected and causal fungi isolated

4 In the field…

5 Symptoms: Leaves

6

7 Symptoms: Berries

8 Symptoms:

9 Symptoms: Apoplexy

10 Aims and Current Study Determine and characterize basidiomycetes involved Identify other fungi involved Botryosphaeriaceae, Phomopsis, Phaeoacremonium, Phaeomoniella Geographical distribution of species

11 Isolations Farms in the Western and Northern Cape visited Isolations Cultures selected

12 Distribution of esca diseased vines MPUMALANGA SWAZILAND EASTERN CAPE KWAZULU-NATAL FREE STATE LESOTHO WESTERN CAPE BOTSWANA NAMIBIA NORTHERN CAPE NORTH WEST ZIMBABWE GAUTENG NORTHERN PROVINCE MPUMALANGA SWAZILAND EASTERN CAPE KWAZULU-NATAL FREE STATE LESOTHO WESTERN CAPE MOZAMBIQUE BOTSWANA NAMIBIA NORTHERN CAPE NORTH WEST ZIMBABWEGAUTENG LIMPOPO

13 Age of vines sampled

14 Young Esca 2-year-old vine from Paarl

16 Organisms Involved

17 Basidiocarps

18 Basidiomycetes characterization 140 isolates used Sequencing of ITS region using ITS1 and ITS4 New species identification

Phylogram of ITS Heuristic search 1000 bootstrap Fomitiporia Innonotus Inocutis Unknown

20 Conclusions Esca is widespread on grapevines in SA, occurring mostly on grapevines of 10yrs and older A species-complex of 7 Basidiomycete species Predominant species:Inocutis sp. Fomitiporia sp.

21 Outcomes Better understanding of Esca in South Africa Aid in development of control strategies Aid in developing early detection tools

22 Acknowledgements NRF and Winetech for funding Personnel at ARC-Nietvoorbji for technical support