Short knot is a viral disease with which two nepoviruses are associated in France: Grapevine fan leaf virus the most common (GFLV), and the Arabis mosaic virus much rarer (ArMV). Generally, the symptoms observed in the presence of one or the other of these viruses are identical, on the other hand they are transmitted by two different vector nematodes: Xiphinema index for GFLV and X. diversicaudatum for ArMV.

 

The Phylloxera crisis from 1863 strongly affected European vineyards and resulted in the uprooting of many dead vines that had to be renewed. The enormous mixing of plant material, without any selection of the woods used, has led to a wide spread of the short knotted in all the vineyards of the world where it is now widely established. Let us add that the American material used to control phylloxera , belonging to the genus Vitis and hybrids, did not show any resistance to European nepoviruses, in particular to GFLV.