Xylella fastidiosa, a pest that is attacking in the Balearic Islands

xylella fastidiosa olive trees

There are numerous pests that attack crops and cause serious damage. All this entails great economic costs and alterations in natural ecosystems.

In recent years, the bacteria Xylella fastidiosa has become a very dangerous plant pest in Europe. Its numerous damages have forced hundreds of thousands of olive trees to be cut down in southern Italy. Now it is spreading quite strongly through the Balearic Islands.

Xylella fastidiosa, a voracious pest

The first cases of Xylella infection occurred last November in ornamental plants in Mallorca. The experts in the field trusted themselves thinking that they would be isolated cases and that they would not affect or spread to the rest of the plants and especially the crops. However, they have been detected and 92 positive cases of Xylella in Mallorca and Eivissa. In order to stop this plague, a resolution has been approved that will declare the entire Balearic territory as an area demarcated by this plague.

xylella fastidiosa

Xylella fastidiosa

This measure taken by the Government will make it impossible to trade any type of live vegetable, exporting them to other places. In this way, any type of contagion is avoided and the plague is treated. , so that it does not cause further damage. It will also prevent Thousands of trees and a vast expanse of vegetation are cut down to cope with the felling.

In the European Union, they consider the Xylella fastidiosa together with the nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus consist of the two most dangerous new-appearing pests that threaten vegetation. To prevent its damage, for about four years, very demanding and radical measures have been applied to control its expansion. The Xylella fastidiosa it causes the slow death of the plant it infects.

Areas infected by Xylella fastidiosa

Although the plague has spread throughout Italy and is known as "The plague of the olive tree", the only area of ​​Spain in which this bacterium has been found is in the Balearic Islands. The first preventive measures applied in Mallorca have not been enough. Therefore, a radius of 100 meters was drawn to be able to delimit the infected areas. In these areas, all the host plants of the species have been eliminated. A 10 km zone has also been delimited for a containment zone in which a systematic 100 × 100 m mesh has been applied. In these meshes, samples of the plants showing Xylella symptoms and those that surround them have been taken, and all the host varieties of all the Xylella subspecies have been surveyed. With these actions, 1.921 plants have been eliminated in accordance with the phytosanitary precautionary principle.

damaged olive trees

Of these surveys there have been 71 confirmed positives in Mallorca and 21 in Eivissa. These results suggest that one can speak of the dispersal of the bacteria throughout the territory. That is why, in the Ministerial Order of Saturday, January 21, 2017, the imperative to prevent the departure from the territory of the autonomous community of all plants for planting, except seeds, which are not susceptible to contamination, is described. .

The Government affirms that this Ministerial Order it does not generate economic expenses, much less losses. Since, apart from the fact that the Balearic Islands are importers of live plant material and not exporters, this Ministerial Order will minimize the negative consequences of infection by Xylella fastidiosa.

Infected species

Among the trees affected by Xylella fastidiosa we met with olive, cherry, plum and almond trees. With respect to Mallorca, positives have been detected in seven olive trees, fourteen wild olive trees, nine polygal, three cherry trees, one plum and thirty-seven almond trees, while the positives for Eivissa have been in two oleanders, sixteen olive trees, one polygal, one mimosa blue and a lavender.

xylella fastidiosa

Finally, chromotic traps were installed in the infected areas of Mallorca. These are traps that allow detecting the presence of the vector that transmits the bacteria. On the Department of Zoology of the University of the Balearic Islands A study has begun to look at the potential vectors of this bacterium and thus focus on stopping them.


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  1.   Joseph Ribes said

    It is truly annoying.