Climate and trade changes are reshaping the cartographic distribution of lethal pervasive pathogens. Among serious emerging challenges is Xylella fastidiosa (Xf), a xylem-limited phytopathogenic bacterium that produces losses and damages to numerous crops of high economic and agronomic importance. Lately, this grave quarantine pathogen has expended its distribution by arriving to several European countries and infecting both wild and cultivated plants, and no cure has been identified so far. Countries without current outbreaks like Morocco, need to monitor theirs crops frequently because detecting diseases in the early stages may reduce the huge losses caused by Xf. For that purpose, inspections were managed in different regions in Morocco from March 2020 to July 2021 to assess the presence of Xf in several growing areas of vulnerable economic crops (i.e., almond, citrus and olive). To extend the likelihood of detection, hosts have been inspected and sampled randomly over different environments including symptomatic and asymptomatic plants. Each sample was screened for the existence of Xf by using the DAS-ELISA commercial kit, while, further analyses were carried out for doubtful samples, by PCR. Results of both tests did not show any positive sample in the investigated areas. This finding is an update on the Xf situation in Morocco and confirms that this country is still a free territory from this bacterium, at least in the monitored regions.
A total of 460 sites in 28 provinces located in the northern part of Morocco, where the prickly pear cactus Opuntia ficus‐indica is a natural crop, were surveyed from autumn 2020 to winter 2022. In 2020 and the first half of 2021 the cochineal scale Dactylopius opuntiae (Cockerell, 1896) (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae) was the only scale recorded on pads of O. ficus‐indicata. However, high infestation of pads and fruits of O. ficus‐indica with Diaspis echinocacti Bouché (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) was subsequently recorded in three sites. D. echinocacti is described based on the morphology of the male and female adults, and microscopic examination of 60 slide‐mounted adult females. The presence of D. echinocacti on prickly pear cactus in these three sites in Morocco represents a serious potential threat for cactus in the country. Two predators, Rhyzobius lophanthae Blaisdell (1892) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) and Cybocephalus sp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), and two hymenopteran parasitoids, the ectoparasitoid Aphytis sp. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) and an endoparasitoid Encyrtidae, were recorded to be associated with cactus scale. Further work is needed to identify all these predators/parasitoids to species level and to evaluate their potential for biological control.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.