Andreas Kortekamp

With around two thirds of Germany's vineyards, viticulture is a key component of Rhineland-Palatinate's agricultural sector. New tasks and research topics are constantly emerging in plant protection, particularly due to changing conditions. These include climate change and extreme weather situations, the emergence of invasive species, environmentally friendly and resource-conserving control methods for sustainable production, particularly with regard to integrated pest management (IP measures), the development of control and regulation methods for organic cultivation and the implementation of the legal framework (e.g. the EU Plant Health Regulation, the EU Control Regulation and the EU Plant Health Regulation) as well as intensive research support for the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (EU WFD). These topics are described as tasks in the National Action Plan for Plant Protection (NAP) and are part of the legal mandate of the Institute of Phytomedicine. The application-oriented research serves to provide advice, training and further education and the implementation of sovereign tasks in the field of phytomedicine for special crops in Rhineland-Palatinate (e.g. sample analyses for trade within the EU, import/export with third countries, for propagation stocks of vines, fruit and ornamental plants).

Research topics at the Institute of Phytomedicine in the following areas:

Mycology

• Epidemiology of fungal diseases of the vine (e.g. Oidium, Plasmopara)
• Biology of harmful fungi and development of suitable diagnostic methods
• Conceptual development of control strategies in terms of integrated plant protection with special consideration of phytosanitary measures, cultivation measures and biological methods (including Esca)
• Mycotoxin-producing fungi and development of analytical markers (e.g. Penicillium)

Entomology

• Biology, population dynamics and distribution of pests and potential beneficial organisms
• Interspecific relationships between beneficial and harmful arthropods
• Use of biological and biotechnical methods to control animal pests
• Examination of the effect of insecticides and acaricides on pests, including the development and improvement of selective control methods (e.g. cherry vinegar fly, scale insects and mealybugs as vectors for viral diseases)
• Testing the effects of plant protection products on beneficial insects

Virology / nematology Diagnosis

• Spread of Nepo viruses and nematode vectors
• Resistance behavior of new rootstock varieties
• Methods for nematode control including testing of active substances on nematodes and molecular biological characterization of virus-transmitting nematodes
• Effects of grapevine viruses on yield and quality
• Isolation and characterization of new grapevine viruses
• Blackwood disease and its vectors and development of control options
• Development of new molecular diagnostic methods (PCR, RT-PCR, qPCR, LAMP, high-throughput sequencing, NGS) for the identification, characterization and detection of viruses, bacteria and phytoplasmas

Vine planting material + young plant hygiene

• Seedling health; process optimization in vine seedling production, grafting technology
• Affinity and adaptation testing
• Testing the susceptibility of scion and rootstock varieties to phylloxera
• Vine fatigue and its control
• Clone selection and maintenance breeding of scion and rootstock varieties
• Development of measures to prevent phytoplasmosis, bacteriosis and mycosis on plant vines

Analytics and the environment, including the use of plant protection products

• Detection of mycotoxins as part of food safety
• Reduction of copper contamination in vineyard soils
• Influence of drift-reducing application techniques on the distribution of pesticide active ingredients
• Development of concepts for user protection
• Pilot projects Cleaning station for plant protection equipment (EU-WFD)