Impact of the Biocontrol Product, Esquive® WP, on the Indigenous Grapevine Wood Microbiome after a 6-Year Application Period

TL;DR

This study shows that a biocontrol product used on grapevines does not significantly alter the wood microbiome over six years.

Contribution

The study demonstrates the long-term safety of Esquive® WP on grapevine microbiomes.

Findings

Microbial communities were linked to specific region and cultivar pairings.

Short-term changes in diversity and taxa abundance were observed but disappeared over time.

No significant long-term effects on the grapevine wood microbiome after six years of treatment.

Abstract

Grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs) are currently limiting grapevine productivity in many vineyards worldwide. As no chemical treatments are registered to control GTDs, biocontrol agents are being tested against these diseases. Esquive® WP, based on the fungus Trichoderma atroviride I-1237 strain, is the first biocontrol product registered in France to control GTDs. In this study, we determine whether, following grapevine pruning wound treatments with Esquive® WP, changes occurred or not in the indigenous microbial communities that are colonizing grapevine wood. Over a 6-year period, Esquive® WP was applied annually to pruning wounds on three grapevine cultivars located in three different regions. Wood samples were collected at 2 and 10 months after the Esquive® WP treatments. Based on MiSeq high-throughput sequencing analyses, the results showed that specific microbial communities were linked to each ‘region/cultivar’ pairing. In certain cases, a significant modification of alpha diversity indexes and the relative abundance of some microbial taxa were observed between treated and non-treated grapevines 2 months after Esquive® WP treatment. However, these modifications disappeared over time, i.e., 10 months post-treatment. This result clearly showed that Esquive® WP pruning wood treatment did not induce significant changes in the grapevine wood’s microbiome, even after 6 years of recurrent applications on the plants.

Figures