*Article* **Combining an HA + Cu (II) Site-Targeted Copper-Based Product with a Pruning Wound Protection Program to Prevent Infection with** *Lasiodiplodia* **spp. in Grapevine**

**Pedro Reis 1,\*, Ana Gaspar 1, Artur Alves 2, Florence Fontaine <sup>3</sup> and Cecília Rego <sup>1</sup>**


**Abstract:** The genus *Lasiodiplodia* has been reported from several grape growing regions and is considered as one of the fastest wood colonizers, causing Botryosphaeria dieback. The aim of this study was to (i) evaluate the efficacy of Esquive®, a biocontrol agent, on vineyard pruning wound protection, applied single or, in a combined protection strategy with a new site-targeted copper-based treatment (LC2017), and (ii) compare their efficacy with chemical protection provided by the commercially available product, Tessior®. For two seasons, protectants were applied onto pruning wounds, while LC2017 was applied throughout the season according to the manufacturer's instructions. Pruning wounds of two different cultivars were inoculated with three isolates of *Lasiodiplodia* spp. Efficacy of the wound protectants, varied between both years of the assay and according to the cultivar studied but were able to control the pathogen to some extent. The application of LC2017 did not show clear evidence of improving the control obtained by the sole application of the other products tested. Nevertheless, LC2017 showed a fungistatic effect against *Lasiodiplodia* spp., in vitro, and has previously shown an elicitor effect against grapevine trunk diseases. Therefore, this combination of two protection strategies may constitute a promising long-term approach to mitigate the impact of Botryosphaeria dieback.

**Keywords:** Botryosphaeriaceae; *Trichoderma atroviride* strain I-1237; Hydroxyapatite-Copper; *Vitis vinifera*; combined strategy
