Identification of ecoclimatic indicators of esca disease through 20 years of large-scale vineyard monitoring in France

• Published in: Plant disease
• Main Authors: Etienne, Lucas, Martinetti, Davide, Frank, Elise, Bonnardot, Valérie, Michel, Lucie, Guerin Dubrana, Lucia, Delmas, Chloé E L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 15.07.2025
• Subjects: climate/weather effects; ecoclimatic indicators; phenology; plant vascular disease; INLA; Epidemiology; Vitis vinifera; Subject Areas
• ISSN: 0191-2917
• DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-01-25-0228-RE

Plant disease incidence depends on host and pathogen phenology, and the abiotic environment. Plant health and productivity are, therefore, strongly influenced by global environmental changes, particularly for perennial crops, such as grapevines. Esca is a vascular disease causing significant damage to vines globally. The incidence of esca leaf symptoms varies considerably between cultivars, but also between years probably due to climatic conditions. However, the impact of climate on esca incidence as a function of grapevine cultivar phenology remains unclear, as large-scale analyses and long-term monitoring coupled to ecoclimatic indicators (climatic indicators calculated over phenological phases) are lacking. We employed a statistical modeling approach to evaluate the influence of climate on esca leaf symptom incidence, considering grapevine phenology, across 493 vineyards in France planted with 10 cultivars from 2003 to 2022. Our analysis identified ecoclimatic indicators that impacted annual esca incidence (proportion of symptomatic plants per vineyard at the end of the summer). The effect of mean temperature during dormancy and in-season active growth differs in its effect on annual esca incidence. Esca incidence increased significantly with soil wetness index (SWI) and evapotranspiration during active growth. We found that the climate of the current year had a greater impact on the incidence of esca than that of the preceding year, depending on the succession of favorable (wet) and unfavorable (dry) years. Our results suggest that the risk of vascular diseases, such as esca, will probably decrease with increases in the frequency and severity of periods of drought and high temperatures in the spring and summer.