"ICGTD - Achievements and Challenges of the Future"
by Luigi Chiarappa

Since the late 1980s trunk disease problems have emerged that are of paramount importance to the grape industry. They include the resurgence of esca (black measles) and eutypa dieback in mature vineyards, dieback by Botryosphaeria species and decline diseases of young vines in newly planted vineyards. These diseases were attracting attention from scientists all over the world, but the research was often conducted in isolation and there was little exchange of the rather fragmentary information.

The realization that both esca in mature vines and decline in young vines were associated with the same fungus, and the naming of that fungus as Phaeoacremonium chlamydosporum (later renamed Phaeomoniella chlamydospora) focussed the attention of researchers on possible inter-relationships of these diseases. The need for closer coordination between scientists working on these diseases was realized, and the idea of an International Council on Grapevine Trunk Diseases (ICGTD) was conceived.

ICGTD logo

The first ICGTD meeting took place in California (USA) in July 1998, and agreed on a structure and objectives for the ICGTD. The ICGTD serves as a forum for researchers from grape growing countries. The ICGTD executive consists of a chairperson and four regional coordinators. The first chairperson of ICGTD was Dr. Luigi Chiarappa, who first proposed the formation of the ICGTD. The other founding members were Ian Pascoe, Lucie Morton, Laura Mugnai, Lisa van de Water, and Philippe Larignon.

The International Council of Grapevine Trunk Diseases has been welcomed as the Subject Matter Committee on Grapevine Trunk Diseases by the International Society for Plant Pathology (see ISPP Newsletter 31 (4) August 2001).

The ICGTD is a non-profit organisation. It has no sponsors, no membership fees. All its activities are carried out on a volunteer basis and has the strong support of ISPP and of MPU (Mediterranean Phytopathological Society, editor of Phytopathologia Mediterranea).


Committee

CHAIRPERSON:
Florence Fontaine (florence.fontaine@univ-reims.fr)

REGIONAL COORDINATORS:
Europe - Stefano Di Marco (s.dimarco@ibimet.cnr.it)
Africa - Francois Halleen (halleenf@arc.agric.za)
North America - José Ramon Úrbez Torres (joseramon.urbeztorres@agr.gc.ca)
South America - Jaime Auger (jauger92@gmail.com)
Australasia - Mark Sosnowski (mark.sosnowski@sa.gov.au)
Asia - Jiye Yan (jiyeyan@gmail.com)

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Josep Armengol (Spain)
Jaime Auger (Chile)
Akila Berraf (Algeria)
Gonzalo Diaz (Chile)
Stefano Di Marco (Italy)
Marcela Esterio (Chile)
David Ezra (Israel)
Florence Fontaine (France)
David Gramaje (Spain)
Francois Halleen (South Africa)
Eirian Jones (New Zealand)
Erzebeth Karaffa (Hungary)
Philippe Larignon (France)
Pascal Lecomte (France)
Jordi Luque (Spain)
Lucie Morton (USA)
Lizel Mostert (South Africa)
Laura Mugnai (Italy)
Cecilia Rego (Portugal)
Patrice Rey (France)
Philippe Rolshausen (USA)
Mark Sosnowski (Australia)
Florent Trouillas (USA)
José Ramon Úrbez Torres (Canada)
Lisa van de Water (USA)
Helen Waite (Australia)
Jiye Yan (China)

WEBSITE MANAGERS:
Mark Sosnowski
Akif Eskalen


Structure and Objectives


1.0    Aims

The ICGTD is a non-profit organisation. It has no sponsors, no membership fees. All its activities
are carried out on a volunteer base with the unique aim of promoting personal contacts, collaboration and
exchange of information among the scientists involved in research on grapevine trunk diseases.

2.0    Executive Council composition

The Executive ICGTD Council is composed by founding members, chairperson, regional coordinators, previous workshop organizers and honorary members.

2.1 Founding members
Luigi Chiarappa, Philippe Larignon, Lucie Morton, Laura Mugnai, Ian Pascoe, Lisa van de Water.

2.2 Board: Chairperson and Regional coordinators
They are nominated or confirmed at each meeting of the executive council to be held in the occasion of each workshop organized by the ICGTD, with the task of keeping close contact with the other ICGTD members.

2.3 Previous workshop organizers
The local organizer or one representative member of the organizing committee is invited to belong to the Executive Committee.

2.4 Honorary members
To be proposed by one of the Council members and approved by the council.

3.0    ICGTD membership

All participants to one or more of the workshops who have a specific interest and activity on grapevine trunk diseases are entitled to be members. To actually belong to the group they only need to fill in the ICGTD membership form, and send it to their Regional coordinator.

4.0    Tasks and delimitation of activities

Grapevine fungal trunk diseases, whose agents are located in the mature stem (trunk and cordons) of grapevines, with special emphasis on Esca and related diseases, but also including trunk diseases caused by other fungal pathogens such as Eutypa, Botryosphaeria, Cylindrocarpon and Phomopsis.

5.0    ICGTD Website

The Council, with the help of all members, runs an ICGTD website. It includes the following:

Institution, address, fax, e-mail
Main field of interest within research on grapevine trunk diseases
Availability of a fungal collection for collaborations/exchange


Minutes of Council Meetings

 

The ICGTD is also recognized by the International Society for Plant Pathology as an ISPP Subject Matter Committees (SMCs), which are specialist committees established (or endorsed) by the International Society for Plant Pathology to address and report on special fields or problems in plant pathology (ISPP Statute 5 (b)).

ISPP Subject Matter Committee: Grapevine Trunk Diseases
Chair: Laura Mugnai (laura.mugnai@unifi.it)

(Website link)