Welcome to the 8th edition of the VIRTIGATION project newsletter!
As the VIRTIGATION project has entered the final six months of its duration, we provide you with an update on our latest activities, events and publications.
Furthermore, we explore our latest blogs around the project’s topic of protecting tomatoes and cucurbits from emerging plant viruses, and inform about the upcoming final scientific symposium of VIRTIGATION.
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What’s new in VIRTIGATION?
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On the 8th of April 2025, VIRTIGATION organised the opening session at the prestigious IAPV 25 conference in Murcia, Spain. Titled “Defining new mitigation strategies for durable disease management of ToBRFV”, the VIRTIGATION session gathered leading ToBRFV experts from project partners (Volcani Institute, DCM CORP, TECNOVA) as well as external experts (National Institute of Biology, Fera Science). Find out more about the last IAPV here in our blog.
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In January 2025, the VIRTIGATION Plant Health Stories podcast was launched, to highlights our partners’ efforts in fighting emerging plant viruses in tomatoes & cucurbits. In the first episode, our Spanish partner AGAPA interviewed CRAG to discuss their role in VIRTIGATION. In the second episode, VIRTIGATION communication lead RTDS Association interviewed the Natural Resources Institute about their role in the project.
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Starting in February 2025, VIRTIGATION partners have kicked off the multilingual “VIRTIGATION lunchtime webinar” series, which discusses key project results with stakeholders of the VIRTIGATION network. With 5 webinars held so far, this new format has covered the topics of ToBRFV cross-protection, plant virus detection, whitefly control, geminiviruses and provided an overview of results achieved so far. Stay tuned for the next editions, which will focus on tobamoviruses, resistance breeding and virus decontamination in greenhouses.
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A deep dive was also provided into some recent results achieved by VIRTIGATION partners, starting with project advances in ToBRFV resistance breeding by WUR and Volcani Institute. Furthermore, the Genome Detective tool of VIRTIGATION partner EMWEB has been upgraded to enhance the detection of plant viruses, transforming it into a key tool for virus epidemiology. VIRTIGATION partners Luxembourg Institute of Science & Technology and INRAE have also assessed the impact of climate change on the spread of viral diseases in European agriculture.
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Save the Date: VIRTIGATION final scientific symposium on 7 November 2025 in Leuven!
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Coming up in the VIRTIGATION network!
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As VIRTIGATION is generating more and more publicly shareable project results, we are preparing a set of tailored guidance materials for the members of our multi-actor network.
In autumn 2025, VIRTIGATION partners will start adding technical factsheets to inform stakeholders about their results, focusing especially on how these results can be applied e.g. in the daily work of growers.
Curious to join the VIRTIGATION network? Find the multilingual forms to take part in the network below, and gain access to exclusive project content and valuable opportunities to obtain new, practical solutions to protect tomatoes and cucurbits from ToBRFV and ToLCNDV:
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Follow VIRTIGATION on its social media channels to stay updated on our progress, as we protect the plant health of tomatoes and cucurbits as key fruits and vegetables against the ToBRFV and ToLCNDV plant viruses.
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