COS-OGA Applications in Organic Vineyard Manage Major Airborne Diseases and Maintain Postharvest Quality of Wine Grapes

Abstract

In most wine-growing countries of the world the interest for organic viticulture and eco-friendly grape production processes increased significantly in the last decade. Organic viticulture is currently dependent on the availability of Cu and S compounds, but their massive use over time has led to negative effects on environment health. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative and sustainable treatments against powdery mildew, gray mold and sour rot under the field conditions on Nero d’Avola and Inzolia Sicilian cultivars. In detail, the efficacy of COS-OGA, composed by a complex of oligochitosans and oligopectates, and its effects in combination with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were evaluated to reduce airborne disease infections of grape. COS-OGA combined with AMF induced a significant reduction in powdery mildew severity both on Nero d’Avola and Inzolia with a mean percentage decrease of about 15% and 33%, respectively. Moreover, COS-OGA alone and combined with AMF gave a good protection against gray mold and sour rot with results similar to the Cu–S complex (performance in disease reduction ranging from 65 to 100%) on tested cultivars. Similarly, the COS-OGA and AMF integration provided good performances in enhancing average yield and did not negatively impact quality and microbial communities of wine grape. Overall, COS-OGA alone and in combination could be proposed as a valid and safer option for the sustainable management of the main grapevine pathogens in organic agroecosystems.

Assessing Copper-Alternative Products for the Control of Pre- and Postharvest Citrus Anthracnose

“…Furthermore, in this work two basic substances, Biorend (chitosan) and Equibasic (equisetum) have been studied. Chitosan, a natural biodegradable chitin-derivative, is the most studied product thanks to its well-known direct fungicidal activity and indirect activity as elicitor of resistance to numerous pre- and postharvest fungal diseases [ 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ], including Colletotrichum spp. [ 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”

The prospects of using Bacillus amyloliquefaciens in the biological control of grape diseases

“…In the development of agricultural production in the world, there is a steady growing public interest in environmentally friendly technologies. Constant aiming at reducing the use of chemical fungicides to control the development of major diseases of agricultural plants, including grapes, while ensuring stable yields of necessary quality in a climate changing conditions, motivates the researchers around the world to be looking for alternative products that can replace or supplement chemical fungicides in the future [1][2][3][4].…”

“…Many preparations are being tested and validated, some of them are already in the world market, for example, inorganic substances (zeolite, potassium and sodium bicarbonate); biological control agents; biostimulants, including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and stimulating plant growth rhizobacteria, as well as the products that induce the resistance [2,5].…”

“…In this regard, the prospect of ensuring the effective development control of these diseases and guaranteed protection of grape crops can be achieved with the progress in ecological approach -the use of microbiological preparations or substances of biological origin. Up to date, positive results of using microorganisms as agents of biological control, as well as biological preparations created on their basis in the management of gray rot, oidium, sour rot are known [2,11].…”

Epidemiology and Control of Plant Diseases

“…In the last research paper, Calderone et al [ 18 ] demonstrate that a chitosan oligosaccharide (COS–) oligogalacturonides (OGA) complex, applied alone or combined with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), is able to reduce significantly powdery mildew ( Erysiphe necator ), gray mold ( Botrytis cinerea ), and sour rot infections on red berried Nero d’Avola and white berried Inzolia wine grape cultivars. Overall, this strategy can be proposed as a valid and safer option for the sustainable management of the main grapevine pathogens in organic agroecosystems.…”