The 8th International Phylloxera Symposium is held in Geisenheim (Germany) in July 2025.
It was organised by Hochshule Geisenheim University under the patronage of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine.
Increasing pressures from both biotic and abiotic stresses threaten grapevine health and vineyard productivity worldwide. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculants have been shown to offer a promising bio-based alternative to mitigate abiotic stress and pathogen attack by enhancing nutrient uptake, water relations, and plant defence mechanisms.
Rootstocks continue to serve as the first line of defence against phylloxera in viticulture; however, to mitigate the impacts of climate change, future viticulture will require novel, improved rootstock varieties. As conventional rootstock breeding is extremely time-consuming, modern genomics-assisted approaches are urgently needed.
Soil salinity is an increasingly critical challenge for grapevine production, particularly in Mediterranean climates like California. Chloride (Cl-) accumulation, in particular, severely impacts vine growth, productivity, and fruit quality.
150 years ago grafting was identified as the most efficient method to combat phylloxera, this stimulated the active breeding of grapevine rootstocks and provided numerous rootstocks that are still in use today. Since then and over the 20th century, only a few new genotypes were been released.
Grape phylloxera (GP) (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch, 1855) devastated European vineyards in the 19th century by attacking Vitis vinifera roots. Today, grafting onto resistant American rootstocks remains its primary control strategy, but GP continues to threaten non-grafted vineyards, prompting the search for alternative control solutions.