Scientists published the first report about Xylella fastidiosa on almond trees in Lebanon.
Analyses released on the the Journal of Plant Pathology show that the pathogen belongs to the subspecies fastidiosa. Already in 2020, inspections in Lebanon identified almond trees with symptoms similar to those of the Almond Leaf Scorch, the disease caused by X. fastidiosa.
Infected almond trees were close to the country’s southern border, just a few kilometers from the Hula Valley in Israel, where similar X. fastidiosa infections belonging to the subspecies fastidiosa have been reported in 2017.
In Israel X. fastidiosa subsp. fastidiosa was isolated from symptomatic almond trees and was used to infect other almond trees and grapevine by mechanical inoculation. The pathogen, however, did not infect olive, peach, cherry, plum, nectarine, clementine, and grapefruit plants.
