By Dr. Kendra McClure, Perennia Molecular Biologist
As we prepare for the upcoming field season, it is a good time to summarize the Plant Health Lab’s virus screening work for the 2020 field season. For the past three years, Perennia staff have been visiting newly-planted vineyard blocks across the province and testing them for the presence of three grapevine viruses of economic concern: Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 1 (GLRaV-1), Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3), and Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) (Figure 1). Work in other grape growing regions on Vitis vinfera varieties suggests that such viruses may negatively affect both production and wine quality, but research on their impact in our growing region has just begun.