At the end of the project, we summarized the knowledge gained during the project in an article aimed at olive growers and risk managers associated with the plant trade.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 5295695The International Diagnostic Protocol for the determination of bacteria X. fastidiosa is a guideline developed by designated experts of the European regional plant protection organization. The common protocol increases the harmonization of the work of diagnostic laboratories and the comparability of results between countries, thus also improving the flow of goods in domestic and international trade. Project leader, Tanja Dreo, is a nominated member of the EPPO Panel on bacterial diagnostics, and was selected by the EPPO as a member of the Expert Group tasked with updating the protocol and contributing our expertise and validation data. During the project, we actively contributed to the design and major updates (versions 2, 3 and 4) of the diagnostic protocol through active participation in discussions, exchange of knowledge and validation data partially obtained within the CRP project. In addition to the commendation recieved from EPPO for our work, such cooperation increases the visibility of researchers and national research in Slovenia. Codes of achievements: D.08 Management and development of research activities, F.04 Increase of the technological level, F.12 Improvements to an existing service, F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice, F.22 Improvement to existing health/diagnostic methods/procedures, F.31 Development of standards.
F.31 Development of standards
COBISS.SI-ID: 4807759Bacterium Xylella fastidiosa infects a high number of different plants. Its diagnostics is performed on olives, grapevine, stone fruits, oleander, rosemary, lavender,.. and on its insect vectors. In this publication, we have reported on our experiments on the performance of real-time PCR in a number of different samples, generating data on its analytical and diagnostic sensitivity. The data was included in the international diagnostic protocol published by the European regional plant protection organization (EPPO). The availability of data supports open science and the sharing of good practices with other laboratories in the EU and the EPPO region. F.01 Acquisition of new practical knowledge, information and skills, F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge, F.04 Increase of the technological level, F.22 Improvement to existing health/diagnostic methods/procedures.
F.01 Acquisition of new practical knowledge, information and skills
COBISS.SI-ID: 3804239In cooperation with the Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection we organized a meeting »Bacterial blight of olive (Xylella fastidiosa), a threat to many host plants« on October 4th, 2017 in Primorska region of Slovenija. At the meeting, we presented the project's activities. The invited lecture was given by dr. Donato Boscia from the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, Italy, which in 2013 identified the Xylella fastidiosa bacteria as the cause of bacterial blight in southern Italy. Since then, he has been actively involved in research work related to this bacterium, communication with the public, producers and official services, and especially in the attempts to manage this dangerous disease. He is the coordinator of EU project POnTE. The presentation of dr. Boscia is available on the XylVec website. More than 60 olive growers and professionals attended the meeting. Various media reported on the The media were reported in the Primorska Chronicle of TV Koper (range 45,588), in the program People and Earth and Dnevnik TV Slovenija 1 (range 418,920). The topics of the project were also presented at regular training for olive growers and at they yearly meeting of regional societies of olive growers. In order to raise awareness of the public, we translated the brochure on the X. fastidios project POnTE and prepared a leaflet about the disease. We also participated in other events: - Plant Fascination Day (http://www.nib.si/aktualno/novice/1060-dan-ocarljivih-rastlin-2017); Ljubljana, 19.5.2017; organizer: Society of plant biology - Green Wonders, workshop Plant can get ill too, 11.5.2017; co-financer Mestna občina Ljubljana; coordinator Society of plant biology; link: http://www.plantslo.org/zelena_cudesa/index.php. - Bogatajevi dnevi zaščite in reševanja, Murska Sobota, 8.-10.6.2017; organizer Ministry of defense, and other events. In continuation of the project we have organized and contributed to further events.
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 4460623Proficiency test is a way in which competence of laboratories is assessed and demonstrated. In proficiency testing standardized samples are prepared with known status regarding the presence of harmful organisms. These are sent out to participating laboratories that analyse them using their own methods, equipment and reagents and send results back to the organizer. Organizer analyses the results and provides a report detailing all participants’ results in confidential manner together with actual sample status. The National Institute of Biology is organizing yearly proficiency testing rounds for various organisms since 2015. The 2016 round included molecular detection of Xylella fastidiosa. In total, 29 laboratories from 22 countries participated: Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands, Turkey, and UK. The large number of participants in the proficiency test demonstrates recognition of our competences for X. fastidiosa in the international community. The NIB PT scheme is the only one in the world in the filed of plant health using digital PCR to assign reference values to samples. The samples were also used to test LAMP method, one of the methods included in the Xylvec project.
F.05 Ability to launch new technological development cycle
COBISS.SI-ID: 4204111