Research Information System
Acta Horticulturae, vol.472, pp.517-526, 1998 (Scopus)
The awareness of potential disastrous consequences to stone fruit crops from virus diseases (i.e. sharka) has set up alarm signals in the scientific community and has prompted the initiation of national and international projects for the production of virus-free stocks through certification programs. To promote a clean stock program in the Mediterranean region, the Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM) has promoted the "Mediterranean Network for Virus Disease Assessment and Sanitation of Stone Fruit Trees" (MNFT). Various proposals have been discussed to improve and harmonize current certification schemes starting from EPPO stone fruit protocols now in operation in different countries. Other proposals for more reliable techniques for disease detection to be used in these programs are included. The harmonization of a stone fruit clonal selection and certification scheme in the Mediterranean Region is submitted to the attention of the scientific community and/or the agricultural authorities of member Governments.