Unit Director: Christophe Clément – EA 4707 – URVVC
Chairholder: Florence Fontaine (PR post)
The "grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs)" theme has been developed in the Induced Resistance and Bioprotection of Plants laboratory (RIBP - EA 4707) for more than 10 years. For winegrowers around the world, GTDs are of growing concern as there is currently no effective method of control available.
In this context, the research carried out is organised into 3 areas of action:
- To characterise the physiological impact of these diseases to identify less sensitive molecular markers in certain grape varieties and identify determinants of fungal pathogenicity contributing to GTDs;
- To study the influence of environmental factors (climate) on the development of GTDs;
- To suggest more sustainable (biological) ways of combating GTDs to restrict them.
The RIBP research unit led the COST FA1303 European action "Sustainable Control of Grapevine Trunk Disease" (2013-2017) and is currently identified as the leader of the main European academic institutes working in this area. This work is carried out in collaboration with academic (universities, large organisations), professional and private partners nationally and internationally. The chair is incorporated into Institut Georges Chappaz.
The knowledge acquired is used in the training provided at URCA, and more specifically the training on the wine industry (degree and vocational degree, national oenologist diploma, master's degree), particularly in conjunction with the Avize oenology college (Avize VitiCampus).
Keywords:
Grapevine trunk diseases, pathogenic fungi, host-pathogen interactions, differential sensitivity of grape varieties, effective control
Industrial partnerships:
Agrauxine, Comité Champagne, BIVB, IFV, Pépinières Mercier, Hennessy, Natural Group Development, Nufarm
Scientific collaborations:
Université de Haute Alsace, UMR INRA SAVE Bordeaux, UMR INRA Agroécologie Dijon, UMR INRA Bioger Versailles, Avize Viticampus, Florence University (Italy), Fribourg University (Switzerland), Instituto Superior de Agronomia in Lisbon and Aveiro University (Portugal), Debrecen and Eger University (Hungry), VITEC (Spain), Technische Universität Muenchen (Germany).