Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Xylophilus ampelinus (Panagopoulos) Willems et al.

The European Commission requested EFSA’s Panel on Plant Health to perform the pest categorisation for Xylophilus ampelinus, which is the causal agent of bacterial necrosis of grapevine. X. ampelinus is a single taxonomic entity and grapevine is the only known host. X. ampelinus is regulated in the EU; it is listed in Annex II, Part A, Section II of the Directive 2000/29/EC. Reliable detection and identification tests are available. X. ampelinus is present on grapevine in 5 out of the 21 grapevine-producing EU countries.Nevertheless, it should be stressed that disease occurrence is sporadic in areas where X. ampelinus is present and depends on cultivar susceptibility and environmental conditions. The survival of X. ampelinus is unlikely to be affected by ecoclimatic conditions. In areas where X. ampelinus is present, the direct and indirect impacts can be high: yield reduction, death of grapevine plants and specific disease management procedures (use of healthy plant for planting, cumbersome management of infected vineyards). X. ampelinus is transmitted locally by rain, wind, overhead sprinkler irrigation and human activity within vineyards, and by plants for planting material over long distances, especially as infected planting material is, most of the time, asymptomatic. Control measures include the destruction of the infected plants and the application of copper compounds.