Teaching - Università degli Studi della Tuscia

Forest pathology (objectives)

The course aims to provide: i) basic knowledge and concepts of Plant Pathology and its fields of application (agricultural, forestry, ornamental, plantations, urban); ii) basic knowledge of mycology regarding biology and taxonomy of fungi; an overview of the main fungal diseases of trees and their impact in a national and European context
a) Knowledge and understanding. Students will receive all the information necessary to form a complex cognitive framework but with a common denominator that will allow them to associate and integrate the individual topics covered. Through a non-notional path but based on analysis, discussion in class and the stimulation of the critical spirit, the student will understand and elaborate on the individual themes of forest pathology by placing them in the current national and European context.
b) Applied knowledge and understanding; The set of information provided to the student through an interactive approach, and with practical application examples, will allow them to perceive its applicability in professional activities both nationally and internationally. Students will also have the opportunity to conduct practical activities which concern, in particular, the diagnostic procedure and protocols, their integration and use in practical field and laboratory activities.
c) Making judgments; the interactive teaching method based on the framing of general themes and their development through practical examples and class discussions will stimulate the students' ability to combine personal and autonomous judgment.
d) Communication skills; the body of information provided during the course will provide students with the tools to be able to effectively, and with knowledge of the facts, communicate the issues relating to the complex system of the impact of woody plant diseases in forestry, agroforestry, nursery and income plantation systems, using an appropriate glossary and the right dissemination approach.
e) Ability to learn (learning skills); the adoption of a teaching method based on general concepts then developed with practical and applied examples, promotes student learning and, in particular, the assimilation of concepts

Code

119512

Language

ITA

Type of certificate

Profit certificate

Credits

Scientific Disciplinary Sector Code

AGR/12

Contact Hours

Exercise Hours

Laboratory Hours

Type of Activity

Core compulsory activities

Teacher	VANNINI Andrea (syllabus) Introduction to the course; Forest Pathology and its context; Concept of disease and damage; biotic and abiotic disease agents; triangle of disease, classification of diseases; introduction to symptoms. The Symptomatology; classification of symptoms; diagrammatic scales of disease; disease indices: incidence, severity, mortality; calculation of disease indices; use of disease indices to evaluate status, severity and distribution in a forest stand; example of interaction between entomology and forest pathology: the ambrosia beetle Xylosandrus compactus. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia; alteration of processes: photosynthesis; breathing; transport; reproduction; transcription; The disease cycle: overwintering; primary inoculum; dissemination; inoculation; activation; adhesion of the pathogen to the host; passive and active penetration; infection; apoplastic / symplastic, biotrophic / necrotrophic colonization; evasion of the pathogen. Defense mechanisms: evasion, tolerance, resistance. Passive and active, morphological and chemical resistance. Receptor elicitor system. The VTA, concepts, and use in the urban environment; classification systems; practical exercises on VTA application. The diagnostic procedure: anamnesis and field diagnosis, phases of the diagnostic procedure in the field. Application cases: ambrosia beetles and associated mushrooms; chestnut blight; chestnut ink disease. The concept of sterility; growth media, autoclave, laminar flow hood. Koch's Postulates, application example. Introduction to Mycology; the fungal thallus; mushroom ecology: symbionts, saprotrophs. Fungi as pathogens of plants, animals, humans, and other microorganisms; the fungal cell, nucleus, cytoplasm and organelles, the cell wall. The biological cycle of mushrooms; spore germination; hyphal growth; tropism; necrotrophic and biotrophic colonization; vegetative structures. Practical exercises of microscopic observation of fungal structures. Biological diagnostics: observation and dissection of symptomatic material; sterilization and plating in a laminar flow hood; wet room set-up. The fruiting bodies; nuclear phases; taxonomic classification; Glomeromycota; Chytridiomycota; Mucoromycotina; general information on Ascomycota: vegetative thallus, sexual reproduction (pleomorphism, telomorph and anamorph; gametangiogamia; ascus and ascospores) and asexual (conidia); fruiting bodies of the telomorph (apothecium, perithecium, cleistothecium, pseudothecium); fruiting bodies of the anamorph (acervulus, picnidium); taxonomy. Introduction to Basidiomycota; vegetative thallus; sexual reproduction (somatogamia; basidia and basidiospores); fruiting bodies (angiocarp; gymnocarp; hemiangiocarp); order Uredinales, reproductive forms and cycle; Basidiomycetes, Holobasidiomycetes and Phragmobasidiomycetes. Oomycetes: generalities, biology, and taxonomy. Special part: damping off of seedlings (causative agents, symptomatology, epidemiology, control methods). Powdery Mildews: introduction and taxonomic classification; Powdery Mildew of oaks, hazelnut, plane tree, poplar (causative agents, symptoms, cycle, epidemiology, control methods). Taphrinales: introduction and taxonomic framework; causative agents; symptoms; cycle; epidemiology. Introduction to rust diseases; the rusts diseases of forest plants: taxonomy, cycle of the disease, epidemiology. Pine blister rusts ; pine twist rust; the rust diseases of poplars; blister rusts of Spruce, Silver fir, and Douglas fir; juniper rust; witches broom of Silver fir. Leaf diseases: cycle, epidemiology; necrosis of pine needles (Lophodermium sp., Phacidium sp., Dothistroma sp.); leaf necrosis of broad-leaved trees; anthracnose (plane tree, ash, walnut), shoots and cones blight of pine (Sphaeropsis sapinea). Tracheomycosis: general information and cycle; the Dutch elm disease; the stain canker of the plane tree; the verticillosis. Target cankers: Nectria and larch canker. Diffuse cankers: cypress canker; chestnut blight Root rot: Armillaria, Heterobasidion and Phytophthora (reference books) Teacher slides Elementi di Patologia Forestale – A. Ragazzi, P. Capretti, L. Gheraldini, S. Moricca, 2023 Malattie delle piante in bosco, in vivaio e delle alberature – Alessandro Ragazzi et al., 2020 Field Guide for the Identification of Damage on Woody Sentinel plants Patologia Vegetale – G. Vannacci, 2021
Dates of beginning and end of teaching activities	From to
Delivery mode	Traditional
Attendance	not mandatory
Evaluation methods	Written test Oral exam Aptitude test