Detection of Pierce's Disease in some Vineyards of Iran

Pierce's disease (PD) has been recently reported of Iran. To determine the distribution pattern of this disease, during 2013-2018 years, 365 samples of leaf and stem of grapes of 88 vineyards were collected with PD symptoms. Samples obtained of Iranian grape growing provinces of Fars, Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Semnan, Alborz, Tehran, Qazvin, Zanjan, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh va BoyerAhmad, Markazi, Hamedan and Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiary. Samples were tested for the presence of Xylella fastidiosa by culturing, DAS-ELISA and PCR assay with X. fastidiosa-specific primers. Pathogenicity tests, for some isolates, were conducted on grapevine (cv. Bidaneh Qazvin) under greenhouse conditions. Early symptoms is leaf scorched, while adjacent tissues turned yellow or red. Some grapes showed “matchstick” symptoms in which the leaves dropped from the plant, while petioles remained attached. Approximately 56%, 44.8% and 7.1% of the samples, by DAS-ELISA, PCR and culturing, were infected to X. fastidiosa, respectively. Although based on DAS-ELISA all of the sampled provinces showed infected to X. fastidiosa, there were by the results of culturing and PCR infected to X. fastidiosa is definitive for some vineyards provinces of Fars, Khorasan Razavi, Alborz, Qazvin, Zanjan, Lorestan, Hamedan and Chahar Mahal-va-Bakhtiary. This mapping obtained the dispersion of PD in vineyards of Iran, and can be used as a distribution guide map of X. fastidiosa for plant protection organization of Iran.