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March 5, 2001  New UC field guide helps grape growers prevent Pierce's disease
OAKLAND -- Grape growers throughout the state
concerned about Pierce's disease, the glassy-winged sharpshooter and how to keep
this potentially deadly problem out of their vineyards will want a copy of a new
field guide from the University of California. Pierce's Disease is a concise and
authoritative handbook on the disease, its spread and strategies for containing
the problem. The publication is written by UC scientists on the forefront of the
battle -- Lucia Varela and Phil Phillips, area advisors with the UC Statewide
Integrated Pest Management Project and Rhonda Smith, UC Cooperative Extension
viticulture advisor for Sonoma County. Alexander Purcell, a UC Berkeley
entomologist who has studied Pierce's disease in grapes for more than 20 years,
is also a major contributor. "Pierce's disease and the glassy-winged sharpshooter
have made headlines because they pose real threats to California's $2.8 billion
wine, table and raisin grape crops," said W.R. Gomes, UC vice president of
agriculture and natural resources. "This fully illustrated publication allows
growers to recognize early symptoms of the disease, easily identify the insects
that spread it and craft effective management strategies to reduce damage to
their vineyards." While Pierce's disease was first identified more than
a century ago, it gained national attention after the glassy-winged sharpshooter
-- a fast-spreading and voracious feeder -- began wreaking havoc about 1998 in
the vineyards of Riverside County's Temecula region. More recently, the disease
and the glassy-winged sharpshooter have been found in the San Joaquin Valley.
Today, industry, government and the University are working together to keep the
pest from Central and North Coast vineyards, while seeking a cure through
research and field trials. Pierce's disease is caused by a deadly bacterium,
Xylella fastidiosa, that chokes off a grape plant's ability to pump water
from the soil through its tissue (xylem) to leaves. Diseased vines become
nonproductive and usually die within a year or two after infection. Currently,
there is no known cure for Pierce's disease. Vividly illustrated with 26 color photographs and
four tables, the field guide examines the Pierce's disease problem in six major
sections. Included are descriptions of Pierce's disease incidence in the
different grape growing regions of the state; descriptions of the four major
insect vectors that spread X. fastidiosa; and the role that alternative
host plants play as a reservoir of the bacteria. Also in Pierce's Disease
is information on the pattern of spread in vineyards by different vectors; how
to monitor these pests and a description of management strategies growers can
adopt. The 20-page publication produced by the UC Division
of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR Publication 21600) is priced at $6 a
copy, plus tax and shipping, with discounts available for purchases of 10 or
more. Pierce's Disease is available at local UC Cooperative Extension
offices, directly from ANR Communication Services (6701 San Pablo Avenue, 2nd
Floor, Oakland, CA 94608-1239), or by phone (800-994-8849), fax (510-643-5470),
and online at (http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu). (EDITORS: For a review copy of Pierce's
Disease, contact Cynthia Kintigh at 530/754-5065. Click here for a UC media kit with additional
information on Pierce's disease and the glassy-winged
sharpshooter.) |
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