Globodera rostochiensis in Victoria, Australia
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) has informed of an outbreak of the potato cyst nematode (Globodera rostochiensis) in a market garden in Wandin about 45 km east of Melbourne at three locations within 3 km distance. Immediate action has been taken to quarantine the area and to restrict the movement of plants, soils and machinery.
Surveys are being undertaken of the area, which is located at least 35 km from the nearest seed potato production area and about 100 km from the main potato-growing area of the state.
Affected potato crops are being destroyed and the contaminated soil fumigated.
There is no evidence that the Potato Research Institute at Toolangi, from which foundation stocks for the Victorian scheme originate and some international distribution of pathogen-tested material takes place, is affected. Nor is there any evidence to link this outbreak with a previous report of an outbreak in Western Australia (1986) which is still subject to an on-going eradication campaign.
AQIS has introduced arrangements for issuing phytosanitary certificates (PC) for export of Victorian potatoes to overseas markets.
PCs will be only issued for potatoes grown on a property outside a 20 km radius zone of the infested property and from a crop which has been "fork-tested" prior to harvest, or where the soil has been tested by soil sampling and found free of potato cyst nematodes. Certification for export of other plants within the 20 km zone is proposed if it is substantiated that no potatoes had been grown on the property for ten years, or if the property was shown to be free of potato cyst nematodes by soil sampling. These Phytosanitary Certification procedures would have to be approved by the importing country.
Sources
FAO (1991-04)