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As requested by the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Plant Health (PLH) Panel assessed the risk of Diaporthe vaccinii in the EU, focusing on entry, establishment, spread and impacts on cultivated and wild Vaccinium species, the principal hosts being American and European cranberry and blueberry. Several outbreaks occurred in the EU since 1956, but most were eradicated except in Latvia. The Panel considered entry via fruits and plants for planting. The risk of establishment from discarded infected berries is much lower than from infected plants for planting, of which, potted plants and cuttings pose the greatest risk, while plug plants, derived from tissue culture and grown in pest free structures, pose a low risk. Nine per cent of the EU is highly suitable for establishment of the pathogen, mostly in the SE and NE. Following establishment, the pathogen could spread naturally over short range, and by human assistance over long range. Calculations with an integrated model for entry, establishment and spread, indicate that with current regulations, over a period of 5 years, a few hundred cultivated Vaccinium plants and several thousand Vaccinium plants in natural ecosystems would contract the disease. The associated loss of commercial production is small, less than one tonne of berries per year. On natural vegetation, the median impact after 5 years was estimated to be negligible affecting a negligible proportion of the natural Vaccinium population (2 x 10(-8)). However, the uncertainty of this estimate was high, due to uncertainty about the rate of spread; in a worst-case scenario (99th percentile), almost 1% of plants in natural areas would become infected. Complete deregulation (scenario A1) was predicted to increase the impact substantially, especially in natural areas, while additional measures (scenario A2) would effectively eliminate the entry of infected plants for planting, further reducing the impacts below the current situation. (C) 2017 European Food

The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to perform a pest categorisation of Diaporthe vaccinii Shear, the fungal agent responsible for twig blight, canker, viscid rot, fruit rot and storage rot of several Vaccinium species. The pest is listed in Annex IIAI of Directive 2000/29EC. D. vaccinii is a single taxonomic entity and methods exist for its discriminative detection. The host is restricted to Vaccinium species, the main cultivated hosts being blueberries and cranberries. Hosts are cultivated throughout Europe, and wild Vaccinium species are common components of forests. Conditions are conducive to disease development in most areas of Europe, but not in all Member States (MSs). The disease is currently present in Latvia with restricted distribution and the pest is under surveillance in The Netherlands. In the one Latvian report, storage losses were observed on cranberry, but these losses were caused by a complex of pathogens, including D. vaccinii, which was isolated with a low incidence. Detection methods are available but cultural and morphological identifications should be confirmed with molecular tools owing to the presence of other Phomopsis species on Vaccinium in Europe. The pathogen can spread via the movement of (asymptomatic) infected or contaminated host plants for planting. No information exists on any methods applied for the control of D. vaccinii in the EU. D. vaccinii does not have the potential to be a quarantine pest as it does not fulfil one of the pest categorisation criteria defined in International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 11, that of having a severe impact. Data are not sufficient to conclude on pest categorisation of D. vaccinii based on the criteria of the International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No 21 because there is no information about the level of potential consequences as a result of the use of infected host plants for planting.

Detta är en litteraturstudie om amerikanska blåbär, Vaccinium corymbosum, och dess svampsjukdomar som angriper de ovanjordiska vegetativa delarna. Sjukdomar på amerikanska blåbär i Sverige orsakar idag minimala ekonomiska problem, vilket kan ha att göra med att vi inte riktigt har kunskapen om hur vi skall odla för att få en optimal skörd. Med ökade kunskaper kommer troligen också skörden att öka och då är att förvänta att skador på buskarna kommer att bli ett större problem än tidigare. Arbetet har skrivit för att öka odlingssäkerheten i Sverige på lång sikt med tanke på svampsjukdomar. Målet med arbetet är att ta fram ett lättbegripligt faktaunderlag om livscykler, diagnosticering och bekämpningsmetoder för de allvarligaste svampsjukdomarna på ovanjordiska vegetativa delar. Blåbär har fyra stycken svampar som angriper buskarnas ovanjordiska delar i USA: Phomopsis vaccinii, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Botryosphaeria corticis och Fusicoccum putrefaciens. Livscykeln är liknande för de fyra svamparna där huvuddelen av sporspridningen sker under knoppsprickning och blomning med efterföljande infektionen. Dessa svampsjukdomar har även blåbär som sin vintervärdväxt vilket gör att sjukdomen finns i odlingen hela året om. Detta gör att bekämpning med lätthet kan utföras även på vintern. Bekämpning av svamparna sker mestadels med sekatören då bortklippning av redan infekterade grenar har visat sig vara en framgångsrik metod. I Sverige finns enbart ett bekämpningsmedel som är tillåtet att användas för att förebygga och bekämpa olika svampsjukdomar på blåbär och därför blir beskärning en viktig del i växtskyddsarbetet i odlingen. I arbetet framkommer också vikten av att hålla buskarna i god växt för att försvåra för svamparna att infektera. Denna litteraturstudie kommer förhoppningsvis att bidra till att öka odlingssäkerheten för blåbärsodlare i Sverige., This is a literature review about highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, and the fungal diseases that attack the vegetative parts of the canopy. Today fungal diseases on blueberry are a minimal economical problem in Sweden, maybe because of the lack of knowledge and experience that still exists about how to grow this highbush blueberry to get an optimal yield. But for the future a higher risk for fungal diseases need to be predicted. This essay is written to achieve a higher crop security in Sweden in the long term with focus on blueberry fungal diseases. The goal with this essay is to accomplish a comprehensible fact sheet about lifecycle, diagnosing and control methods of serious fungal diseases on the vegetative parts of the canopy. Highbush blueberry has four serious fungal diseases which are, Phomopsis vaccinii, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Botryosphaeria corticis and Fusicoccum putrefaciens in USA. The lifecycles of these four fungi are similar. Most of the spores are spread during the bud break and flowering period, and the infection starts as soon as the conditions are the right. As these diseases are living on blueberries all year around and a control method which has been successful is removal of infected parts during wintertime by pruning. In Sweden only one fungicide is allowed to be used in blueberry crops in Sweden and therefore it is extremely important to cut the bushes to remove infected parts. Another conclusion is the importance of a crop management that makes the crop vigorous and resistant. Hopefully this essay will contribute to a higher crop security of highbush blueberries in Sweden.