Xylella is the real cause of the death of the olive trees of Salento. According to EFSA this is a certainty. The European Food Safety Authority affirms this on the basis of the surveys conducted by the National Research Center Cnr.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
Xylella is the true cause of death of the olive trees of Salento. According to EFSA this is a certainty. The European Food Safety Authority affirms this on the basis of the surveys conducted by the National Research Center Cnr.
In recent years, Salento has been affected by a real one phytosanitary epidemic which involved olive trees and other plants. The CNR has conducted its own investigations on behalf of EFSA not only on olive trees but also on other plants such as elm, oleander and myrtle and on fruits such as grapes, lemons, almonds, cherries and plums.
Second Giuseppe Stancanelli, who leads EFSA's Plant and Animal Health Unit, the results of this study show that the Xylella strain identified in Salento is drying out the olive trees.
According to EFSA, therefore, there are no doubts about the role of Xylella in the drying of olive trees. The study was conducted both in the greenhouse and in the open field and confirmed the causal link between plant disease and the presence of the bacterium.
According to EFSA, 12 months after inoculation of the Xylella bacterium, the plants involved in the study, both in greenhouses and in open fields, have shown evident symptoms of desiccation. The study also made it possible to determine the most vulnerable olive variety, namely Cellina di Nardò. The Leccino and Frantoio olive trees, on the other hand, are more resistant.
The monitoring of plants included in the study will continue for another year for greenhouses and at least for a decade for trees in the open field. However, they remain some problems to be solved.
La Prosecutor of Lecce had previously imposed it stop at the Silletti floor for the felling of the olive trees with the aim of containing the bacterium because he probably believed that Xylella was not (the only) cause of the desiccation of the plants.
Furthermore, two of the eighteen authors of the Efsa / Cnr study are registered in the register of suspects of the Magistracy of Lecce for culpable spread of plant disease, false material and ideology, destruction of natural beauty.
The Xylella question is therefore far from over. In fact, if the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium is really the cause of the desiccation of the olive trees of Salento, still remain to be understood both the modalities of its spread and whether there are remedies to stop the epidemic without having to cut down trees, including healthy ones, as proposed by the Silletti Plan.
Download the latest here EFSA report about Xylella fastidiosa.
Marta Albè
Read also:
XYLELLA: THE SALENTINES SAY NO TO THE MASSACRE OF THE OLIVE TREES WITH PROTESTS AND BLOCKS (VIDEO)
XYLELLA FASTIDIOSA: THE KILLER BACTERIA OF APULIAN OLIVE TREES THREATEN EUROPE?
THE XYLELLA IS KILLING THE GIANT OF ALLISTE, THE 1500 YEAR OLD TREE SYMBOL OF SALENTO
