The ANCoSIX project aims to achieve the sustainable containment of Xylella fastidiosa in order to address the critical challenges facing Italian olive growing, with particular regard to the Salento region, and to promote sustainable agriculture that drastically reduces the use of synthetic pesticides and encourages innovative and eco-sustainable approaches to plant disease control.
Within the ANCoSIX project, the operational units work synergistically to develop multiple and multifunctional control strategies based on the use of natural bactericides that are harmless to plants and animals (punicalagin, a molecule extracted from pomegranate peel, antimicrobial peptides and bacteriophages), on the application of innovative techniques, such as nanotechnologies, and on the recovery and valorisation of waste products in accordance with the principles of the circular economy.
The nanoformulations developed will undergo multiple tests to verify their efficacy (in the laboratory and in a controlled environment) and the most promising nanoformulation will then be applied directly in the field, in olive groves naturally infected with Xyella fastidiosa, to verify its actual effectiveness.
Link: https://www.unitus.it/ricerca/progetti-di-ricerca/ancosix/