Effects of grapevine cultivar, rootstock and clone on esca disease

Esca is one of the main causes of reduction of production, plant decline and death in vineyards of most viticultural areas of the World. We determined the foliar esca symptoms on a range of grapevine cultivars in three centraleastern Italian vineyards during summer 2008, characterized by conducive conditions for the disease. In vineyard AP1, the incidence of symptomatic plants was recorded for 67 Vitis vinifera cultivars. Among white-berried cultivars, Passerina, Sauvignon blanc, Manzoni bianco, and Riesling, had highest incidence of symptomatic plants (28–35 %), while cvs. Chiapparù, Grechetto, Perdea, Verdicchio, Fiano and Pinot blanc had lowest (0–5 %). Among red-berried cultivars, Rebo had highest incidence of symptomatic plants (>35 %), with lowest for cvs. Lacrima, Brugentile, Sirah, and Limberger (0 %), followed by Gallioppo, Merlot, and Nebbiolo (