06 August 2026
Last News

Due to the fact that current climatic conditions, associated with the El Niño phenomenon, will create the perfect scenario for the development of walnut blight, a bacterial disease that affects walnut trees and can severely harm production this season from the O'Higgins Region to the south of our country, Chilenut formed a technical committee to advance a comprehensive strategy for prevention and management of this issue, and the academic from the Department of Plant Production of the Faculty of Agronomy at the University of Concepción, Ernesto Moya Elizondo, will participate in it.

Because the bacterium Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis is what causes the damage to walnut trees that will begin to sprout next spring, causing wilted leaves and fruit drop, generating great economic losses for the industry, the specialist stated that "one of the greatest difficulties is that, when spots appear or fruit drop begins, the infection occurred days or even weeks earlier. The bacterium can survive the winter protected in the buds and reactivate with sprouting, so management must begin before symptoms are visible," explained the plant pathologist.

Through the formation of this committee, the aim is to articulate the experience of producers and advisors with the capabilities of universities and research centers. The objective will be to identify the main gaps, define priorities, and formulate projects that allow funding field trials, new diagnostic tools, and management alternatives. In this regard, the expert highlighted the importance of this collaborative work.

"Only collaboration among the different actors of the walnut industry, which also includes the academic world, will help generate the necessary research to develop strategies that allow mitigating the effect of recurrent diseases such as walnut blight in the central-southern and southern zone, under a sustainability framework in the face of a climate change scenario," pointed out the researcher.

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