The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH)

The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is the largest university in Greece. The main campus is located in the center of the city of Thessaloniki, and covers an area of about 33.4 hectares. It comprises 10 faculties which consist of 40 schools and 1 single-School Faculty.

The Faculty of Agriculture is one of the first Faculties founded in the AUTH, counting a history of 85 years and approximately 10000 alumni agronomists. Initially founded as a Faculty of Agriculture in 1928, it acquired its present status as School of Agriculture in 2005.

The Faculty of Agriculture, with its thriving educational and research activity has contributed significantly to both national economy and rural development of Greece, as well as to the agricultural sciences and technology worldwide. The School consists of seven Departments: Field Crops and Ecology, Horticulture and Viticulture, Plant Protection, Animal Production, Food Science and Technology, Agricultural Economics, and Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering.

In the Shield4Grape project, AUTH:

• coordinates tasks 3.1 and 3.3 in WP3, aiming to improve IPM strategies in vineyard and determine their impact on the agroecosystem biodiversity
• contributes to work packages WP1, WP5, WP6, and WP7.

In WP1 AUTH will contribute in task 1.1. by conducting phenotypic assessments of PM/DM/GTDs susceptibility/tolerance to the indigenous Greek grapevine genetic material and for the requirements of Task 1.3 will characterize the most tolerant material using “omic” approaches, while for the requirements of Task 1.4 will select tolerant clones for genotyping.

In WP3, AUTH will coordinate activities in Tasks 3.1 and 3.3 by evaluating the efficacy of resistance inducers, biological control agents or elicitors against PM/DM/GTDs under greenhouse and field conditions and by determining the impact of these new strategies on phyllosphere and carposphere microbiome.

Project PI: George Karaoglanidis
gkarao@agro.auth.gr