The 1st meeting of the XylOut project – Epidemiology, Ecogenomics and Modeling of Regulated Prunus Diseases – the Beira Baixa case study took place on March 29 at Cataa – Associação Centro de Apoio Tecnológico Agro-Alimentar.
The XylOut project emerged from synergies created within the scope of the CULTIVAR Network, being coordinated by researchers Joana Costa (Instituto Pedro Nunes and University of Coimbra) and Christophe Espirito Santo (Cataa – Associação Centro de Apoio Tecnológico Agro-Alimentar) and financed by the FCT. Its participating institutions are Cataa – Associação Centro de Apoio Tecnológico Agro-Alimentar, the University of Coimbra, Appizezere and CNCFS.
The project has five major objectives:
(1) To assess the incidence of diseases associated with Prunus orchards in the Beira Interior region.
(2) Study the epidemiology of diseases (who, when, where).
(3) To determine the ability of the isolates to infect different hosts and to know the virulence determinants.
(4) To assess the impact of disease-related bacteria on the structure and functions of the Prunus phyllosphere microbiota.
(5) Infer and anticipate the risk of the establishment and spread of diseases in climate change scenarios.
