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Agriculture
Special Issues
Endemic and Emerging Bacterial Diseases in Agricultural Crops
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Endemic and Emerging Bacterial Diseases in Agricultural Crops

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Protection, Diseases, Pests and Weeds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 May 2026 | Viewed by 731

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marco Scortichini
*
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Centre for Olive, Fruit and Citrus Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA-OFA), 00134 Rome, Italy
Interests: taxonomy; epidemiology; molecular characterization; control
* Currently retired.
Dr. Tatjana Popović Milovanović

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Plant Protection and Environment, Teodora Drajzera 9, 11040 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: diagnosis; detection; characterization; control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In many areas of the world, we are currently facing epidemics of bacterial diseases affecting both woody and herbaceous cultivated crops. Such epidemics are caused either by pathogens established in the area for many years or by the recent introduction of new lineages which are particularly aggressive. In some cases, the introduction of new bacterial pathogens, which were never previously detected, is causing relevant economic losses. The specific epidemiology of the disease, especially for new outbreaks, is not always known, causing difficulties for effective field control.

Therefore, updates on the incidence and severity of the disease, coupled with information on the pathogen population structure and its molecular features, cycle of diseases, molecular or epidemiological interaction with the host plant, detection techniques, potential compounds or beneficial microbes to be used as preventive or curative tools, and applied field control strategies, are of primary importance for establishing the effective and durable management of a specific bacterial disease.

Research articles, reviews, and commentaries are welcome. Articles describing success in establishing effective management strategies that have significantly reduced the impact of the disease are also welcome.

Dr. Marco Scortichini
Dr. Tatjana Popović Milovanović
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bacterial pathogens
  • quarantine bacteria
  • molecular detection
  • host-bacterium interaction
  • beneficial microbes
  • field management strategies

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4790 KB  
Article
Phytoplasma Infections and Potential Vector Associations in Wheat and Maize in Poland
by Agnieszka Zwolińska, Marta Jurga-Zotow, Katarzyna Trzmiel, Tomasz Klejdysz and Beata Hasiów-Jaroszewska
Agriculture 2025, 15(24), 2571; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15242571 - 12 Dec 2025
Viewed by 147
Abstract
The production and quality of wheat and maize grain can be significantly affected by various pests and pathogens, with phytoplasmas posing a particular threat due to their rapid spread and potential to cause severe damage to cultivated crops. The objective of this investigation [...] Read more.
The production and quality of wheat and maize grain can be significantly affected by various pests and pathogens, with phytoplasmas posing a particular threat due to their rapid spread and potential to cause severe damage to cultivated crops. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the risk associated with these wall-less bacteria in wheat and maize crops. To achieve this, a survey was conducted in commercial fields located in southwestern Poland. Samples of winter wheat and fodder maize were collected at two distinct developmental stages, including both symptomatic and asymptomatic plants. Symptoms observed in wheat included yellowing, stunting, and excessive tillering, while maize plants showed yellow leaf striping, red discoloration, and stunted growth. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays using phytoplasma-specific primers, followed by Sanger sequencing and sequence analysis, confirmed phytoplasma infections in 2% of wheat and 1.5% of maize samples. Virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis identified the wheat-infecting phytoplasmas as belonging to subgroup 16SrI-C (‘Candidatus Phytoplasma tritici’-related strain)—a pathogen of major concern for wheat, while maize-infecting phytoplasmas were classified into subgroups 16SrI-B and 16SrV-C. Additionally, wheat plants collected during the early elongation phase were tested for Mastrevirus hordei (former wheat dwarf virus, WDV) using double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA), which confirmed the presence of WDV in all tested samples. Preliminary screening of field-collected leafhoppers revealed that 7.5% of Psammotettix alienus, the predominant species in wheat fields, carried 16SrI-C phytoplasmas. In maize fields, Zyginidia scutellaris was the most prevalent species, with 1.7% of individuals carrying 16SrV-C phytoplasma. These findings suggest that these insect species may contribute to the transmission of phytoplasmas in wheat and maize. This study provides the first documented evidence of 16SrI-C phytoplasma infecting wheat in Poland, and of 16SrV-C and 16SrI-B phytoplasmas infecting maize, expanding the known host range of these subgroups in the country and highlighting their potential phytosanitary importance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Endemic and Emerging Bacterial Diseases in Agricultural Crops)
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13 pages, 3101 KB  
Article
Pseudomonas syringae Population Recently Isolated from Winter Wheat in Serbia
by Renata Iličić, Marco Scortichini, Ferenc Bagi, Nemanja Pavković, Aleksandra Jelušić, Snežana Đorđević and Tatjana Popović Milovanović
Agriculture 2025, 15(23), 2473; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15232473 - 28 Nov 2025
Viewed by 230
Abstract
The aim of this study was to identify the causative agent of bacterial blight and basal glume rot of winter wheat that appeared in Serbia in 2023. To characterize the isolated bacteria (eight isolates in total), their cultural, biochemical, pathogenic, and genetic characteristics [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to identify the causative agent of bacterial blight and basal glume rot of winter wheat that appeared in Serbia in 2023. To characterize the isolated bacteria (eight isolates in total), their cultural, biochemical, pathogenic, and genetic characteristics were examined. Based on the results of the LOPAT test, the isolates were classified into Pseudomonas Group Ia. The syrB and syrD genes were simultaneously detected in six wheat isolates—P0123, P0223, P0323, P0423, P0523, and P0823—while two isolates, P1123 and P1323, lacked both genes. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of the gapA, gltA, gyrB, and rpoD genes identified six isolates (P0123, P0223, P0323, P0423, P0523, and P0823) as Pseudomonas syringae pv. atrofaciens, whereas the remaining two isolates (P1123 and P1323) were most closely related to P. poae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three genetically heterogeneous subgroups of P. syringae pv. atrofaciens among the wheat isolates from Serbia. Pathogenicity tests demonstrated that wheat isolates are able cause disease on wheat seedlings using three different inoculation methods: spraying the entire seedling, trimming the leaves before spraying, and wounding the leaves with multiple needles followed by spraying. Overall, isolates P0123 and P0423 were identified as the most virulent, inducing pronounced blight symptoms on wheat seedlings. In contrast, isolates P1123 and P1323 were weakly virulent and are therefore considered to be secondary or accompanying factors in plants already infected with more aggressive isolates, rather than primary pathogens responsible for disease development. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the ecology, distribution, and pathogenic potential of bacterial communities associated with wheat blight disease in Serbia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Endemic and Emerging Bacterial Diseases in Agricultural Crops)
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