Home 9 Updates 9 News 9 Grafting campaign for centuries-old olive trees starts in Puglia

Grafting campaign for centuries-old olive trees starts in Puglia

Mar 21, 2023 | News, Updates

On 21 March, the first spring day, the BeXyl Project partner UNAPROL, together with Ikea Italia, the farmers’ organization Coldiretti and the association AzzeroCO2 started grafting 100 olive trees in the Xylella fastidiosa infected area of Brindisi, Puglia (Italy). The Piana degli Ulivi Monumentali (literally, “Plain of monumental olive trees”) is embedded in the infected zone and has already lost a third of its priceless plants due to the pathogen.

The initiative is making headlines in the Italian press. The leading Italian news agency ANSA defines the project a “rebirth operation” and a “maxi-rescue”. The project is part of the National Green Mosaic Campaign, in which the other BeXyl partner CNR participated.


The management of centuries-old olive trees, ANSA recalls, is more complicated than common olive trees because of considerably lower production yields, the need to proceed with an exclusively manual harvest, and more significant difficulties in terms of pruning and treatment.

This year, the problems caused by Xylella fastidiosa add on the climatic ones, which have caused an estimated drop in the quantity of olive oil of 37% at a national level which even rises to 52% in Apulia, where about half of the extra virgin olive oil Made in Italy, ANSA reports.

Other News | Updates

Open position for a postdoctoral researcher

Open position for a postdoctoral researcher

Investigating the mechanisms shaping the adaptation of the phytopathogenic bacterium Xylella fastidiosa to its host environments A two-year position for a postdoctoral researcher is open at the IRHS (Research Institute on Horticulture and Seeds) in Angers, France...

The Xf outbreak in Alicante, a talk with Antonio Vicent

The Xf outbreak in Alicante, a talk with Antonio Vicent

In 2017, researchers found Xylella fastidiosa in mainland Spain for the first time, in one plot of almond trees in El Castell de Guadalest, near Alicante (Comunidad Valenciana). What is the situation today? We talked to Antonio Vicent, Plant Protection and...

In Apulia Xf infected 21 million olive trees, estimates suggest

In Apulia Xf infected 21 million olive trees, estimates suggest

Since 2013 Xylella fastidiosa has infected 21 million olive trees in Apulia, covering 8,000 square kilometers, the 40% of the Region territory, the Italian national media report. The data rely on the estimates of Coldiretti, the most prominent farmers' organization in...

Studies on priming give new momentum to research on Xf resistance

Studies on priming give new momentum to research on Xf resistance

The results of new studies on the "priming" mechanism in grapevine plants may give new momentum to research on resistance to Xylella fastidiosa. In a paper published on New Phytologist, researchers from California universities Riverside and Davies illustrated the...

EFSA launches a comic strip on Xf

EFSA launches a comic strip on Xf

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) started the publication of a comic strip to raise awareness of Xylella fastidiosa risks for plant health. The communication product, entitled “Fastidious X, the fearsome killer”, leads the readers to discover how science is...

Xylella files: Xf is a global issue, let’s improve communication

Xylella files: Xf is a global issue, let’s improve communication

The communication on Xylella fastidiosa must grow to keep pace with an expanding worldwide community concerned with the pathogen, a top-class experts' round table concluded last week.  The last meeting of the "Xylella Files" spring seminars took place on 2 May, with...