Grant: Engage Grants Program

The Nova Scotian wine industry is experiencing rapid growth. Much of this success has been due to thecultivation of cold tolerant varieties, obtained by hybridizing our native grape species with the European Vitisvinifera. However, these hybrids are still susceptible to a variety of pathogens such as powdery mildew, thatcan affect the flavour of the final product, even at very low levels. This has led to a reliance on pesticides thatcan accumulate in soils and ground waters, potentially impacting other organisms such as insects and birds. Analternative to pesticide application is biological control, in which pest reduction is achieved through the use ofnatural enemies. The wild relatives of cultivated plants are generally regarded as hardier and more diseaseresistant than their cultivated counterparts. Although this is due in part to their greater genetic diversity, wildplants also host more beneficial microbes, many of which improve plant growth and/or protect from pathogens.Some of the most common plant symbionts are the fungal endophytes, which colonize plants internally withoutcausing disease. As fungal endophytes are somewhat specific to certain plants, the cultivation of hybrid grapeplants in Nova Scotia represents a unique opportunity, as endophytes from wild North American grape speciesare more likely to be compatible with these hybrids than with the European vinifera commonly grownelsewhere. Our aim is to survey wild grape populations for fungal endophytes antagonistic to vineyardpathogens. The current proposal represents the first step in this plan, and involves identifying groups of fungalendophytes colonizing wild grape, but not vineyard grape plants, as these should have the greatest biologicalcontrol potential. Fungal will be identified from leaf samples and the differences between wild and vineyardendophyte species will aid in our long term goal of developing environmentally friendly, biocontrol agents forthe inoculation of Nova Scotian hybrid grape plants against ubiquitous diseases such as powdery mildew. Thistechnology would reduce the reliance on pesticides, thereby lowering the level of toxins entering the vineyardand local environment.