Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum phylotype I in Europe: overlooked introduction pathways and early detection challenges

This extended abstract summarises a lecture that discussed the emergence of Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum phylotype I in Europe, as well as its potential introduction pathways. It accompanies a lecture presented at the 17th Slovenian Conference on Plant Protection, which was held in Radenci, Slovenia in March 2026 and attracted an international audience. The presentation slides are in Slovene, but the extended abstract is provided in English. At this conference, the author was awarded the Special Badge of the Slovenian Plant Protection Society in recognition of contributions to plant protection. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARRS) through research programmes P4-0165 and P4-0463, and by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia through activities related to official plant health diagnostics and collaboration within the Euphresco network of phytosanitary research projects (Euphresco 2023-F-431). The map in the graphical abstract was created using MapChart.com.