Potential Role of Biocontrol Agents for Sustainable Management of Fungal Pathogens Causing Canker and Fruit Rot of Pistachio in Italy.

Pistachio () is an important Mediterranean crop. In Italy, pistachio is cultivated in the southern regions, of which Sicily is the main production area. Recently, the phytopathological situation of this crop has started to be updated, and new diseases have been discovered, studied, and reported. spp. and are major canker/rot pathogens, and and have been reported as minor canker pathogens. In this paper, we evaluated different biological control agents, belonging to and , as well as some strains, against above-mentioned pathogens. Results of dual culture assays showed that all the biological products, both fungi and bacteria, were able to inhibit the mycelial growth of the pathogens in vitro. Experiments using detached twigs showed no effect of biocontrol agents in reducing infections, except for treated with T22 and treated with D747. Results of detached fruit experiments showed an efficacy ranging from 32.5 to 66.9% of all the biological products in reducing the lesions caused by . This study provides basic information for future research on biological control of pistachio diseases and future prospects for search of more effective biological control agents for canker diseases than those studied here.