Innovative Pest Management Strategies in Phytoplasma Insect Vectors Control

Phytoplasmas are obligate intracellular plant pathogens that cause numerous severe plant diseases in agricultural crops worldwide. Phytoplasmas are transmitted primarily by phloem-feeding insect vectors such as leafhoppers, planthoppers, and psyllids, transmitting the pathogen between infected and healthy plants. Conventional management strategies mainly consider chemical insecticides, which often lead to environmental concerns, insect resistance, and limited long-term effectiveness. Consequently, innovative and sustainable approaches have emerged for managing phytoplasma vector populations and interrupting disease transmission only in the last few years. Several disease outbreaks, i.e., the expansion of the American grapevine leafhopper (Scaphoideus titanus) in Europe, underlined the necessity of developing new and innovative technologies for phytoplasma control. This article reviews classical and innovative pest management strategies against insect vectors of phytoplasma, and a detailed comparison of the efficiencies between methods is presented. The integration of these advanced approaches within integrated pest management (IPM) frameworks offers promising prospects for sustainable crop protection and phytoplasma disease mitigation.