CRC for Plant Biosecurity - disease

Drastic pruning technique to tackle exotic grapevine diseases

VANMEURSA — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:40:14 +0000

Global Biosecurity Media Relese: 20 January 2010

A new drastic pruning technique might be the key to efficiently removing potentially disastrous plant diseases from Australian grapevines.

Black rot in particular is an exotic disease which causes havoc in grapevines across the world. The fungus infects the leaves, stems, petioles and rots berries of grapevines.

“The current strategy to eradicate such a plant disease is based partly on the complete removal of whole-affected plants, followed by burning and burial,” South Australian Research and Development Institute research scientist Dr Mark Sosnowski said.

“However, this practice incurs significant costs to industry, especially when perennial species are involved.”

“Alternative strategies need to be developed that meet eradication goals while reducing the economic and social impact.”

Leading a Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity project, Dr Sosnowski set up a trial in the Sunraysia district of Victoria in collaboration with Dr Bob Emmett (Department of Primary Industries, Victoria), using the endemic disease, Black spot (Anthracnose), as a model to develop and assess a drastic pruning protocol for disease eradication.

“The viticulture industry has been selected as an initial pilot to develop alternative pruning techniques to remove the harmful plant pest but allow enough residual plant material to guarantee rapid grapevine regeneration,” Dr Sosnowski said.

“In collaboration with Cornell University, the project team has also established a trial in the USA to validate the pruning strategy on black rot infected vines.”

“The results from this research have the potential to save the Australian wine industry more than $18 million in lost production and vineyard re-establishment costs.”

Dr Sosnowski says plant biosecurity is all about protecting the economy, community and the environment from problems associated with plant pests and diseases.

“Due to Australia’s geographic isolation and strong focus on quarantine, we’re in the fortunate situation of being free of many significant pests that adversely affect agricultural production in other countries.”

“Fewer pest and disease problems provide an enormous market advantage to Australian producers.”

“However, to maintain this highly-regarded position within the global wine industry, controlling exotic pests and diseases is paramount. The threat of this disease to our wine industry is heightened by globalisation and international trade.”

Dr Sosnowski will be one of the many scientists presenting their research on a myriad of biosecurity topics at the first international Global Biosecurity 2010 Conference to be held in Brisbane in February.

The conference will bring together biosecurity experts to discuss best practice and how Australia can
maintain effective biosecurity measures which are vital to keeping our agricultural industries and
the environment healthy.

The conference is a partnership event between the CRC for National Plant Biosecurity, Australian
Biosecurity CRC for Emerging Infectious Disease and the Invasive Animals CRC.

The Global Biosecurity 2010 Conference is sponsored by: the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC); the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis (ACERA); Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS).

Photo caption: A new drastic pruning technique might be the key to efficiently removing
potentially disastrous plant diseases from Australian grapevines.

Registrations for the conference are now open. Visit www.globalbiosecurity2010.com

Media contact l Laureta Wallace

P (08) 6250 4561
M 0457 589 703

Instructions for downloading images

To download and save images, right-click on the link and click ‘save target as’. If you experience any problems, please contact Communications Manager, Kate Scott on 0402 299 611 or k.scott@crcplantbiosecurity.com.au

The fight against feral disease

VANMEURSA — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:26:29 +0000

Global Biosecurity Media Relese: 21 December 2009

In a world where people, trade and goods are in constant transit – protecting Australia’s borders is vital to safeguarding the nation’s biosecurity.

But what about the potential threats that already exist within our borders? Australia is host to more than 50 invasive animal species, resulting in millions of feral animals roaming the country, providing a free ride for infectious diseases to spread and pose a threat to wildlife, livestock and humans.

Invasive Animals CRC Detection & Prevention coordinator and project leader, Dr Wendy Henderson, is helping to understand these potential risks and develop strategies to reduce the impact of invasive animals. She has just authored a review of disease agents found in feral animals in Australia, a hot topic which will be explored at the first international Global Biosecurity 2010 Conference in Brisbane. READ MORE

Registrations for the conference are now open. Visit www.globalbiosecurity2010.com

Media contact l Laureta Wallace

Phone: (08) 6250 4561

PaDIL

K.Scott — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:14:39 +0000

PaDIL is an image based website designed to create a 'virtual reference collection of pests and diseases'. Ken Walker tells us more about PaDIL and how it is used to identify a range of pests and diseases.

The economic viability of Australia's plant industries is directly threatened by endemic and exotic plant pests and diseases. They impact on trade, market access, market development and, ultimately, the profitability and sustainability of Australia's plant industries.

Guarding against pest and disease invasion is a key component of Australia's National Plant Health Strategy and the rapid recognition of Emergency Plant Pests (EPP) is critical to ensure appropriate response strategies are implemented. PaDIL is a new tool that can greatly enhance this process.

PaDIL is an image based website designed to create a 'virtual reference collection of pests and diseases'. The primary aims of the website are twofold:

to significantly improve the rapid recognition of pests and diseases that are of concern to plant health in Australia, and
to broaden the base of people who can assist with the recognition of these pests.

The use of images, as well as common and scientific names, means that a wide range of people involved in plant health from farmers and importers/exporters through to inspectors and scientists can be involved in recognising pests and diseases. The web user can query for an individual species (eg. eucalyptus rust) or an entire group of species (eg. Phoracantha wood boring beetles) or a mixed assemblage of species (eg. Tramp ants) or hosts (eg. broad ' grains; specific ' sugarcane) or world and local bioregions.

The authors of PaDIL web pages are themselves scientists involved with Australian quarantine and biosecurity in Museums, Herbaria, Universities, CSIRO and several State Departments of Primary Industries. For each species on PaDIL, the author reviews the available scientific literature then image captured the diagnostic characteristics that best assist with the recognition of the pest or disease. In addition, full body dorsal and lateral images of the pests and disease symptoms are included.

One of the most significant hurdles to the rapid recognition of exotic pests and diseases is the lack of exotic reference material of pests and diseases in Australian collections. For exotic pests, PaDIL authors borrow identified specimens from overseas institutions, complete the required diagnostic image capture and then return the specimens or in some case lodge material in Australian collections.

For exotic diseases not yet in Australia, image capture presents a special problem as the host symptoms of the disease are as diagnostically important as the live fruiting bodies. Australian quarantine regulations prohibit the importation of live diseases into Australia. So, the plant pathologists have used their international professional networks to recruit the assistance of 81 pathologists from 15 countries to provide them with images of live host symptoms and fruiting bodies for exotic disease entries on PaDIL. The results are wonderfully informative web pages authored by Australian pathologists but supplemented with live disease and host symptom images from around the world.

In addition to the images, authors provide a description of each pest or disease and notes on its distribution and host preferences. They also include useful references and websites. The finished webpage provides the user with a wealth of colour images and information specific to the pest or disease.

The PaDIL software was developed to be an effective, yet simply, image Content Management System (CMS). It uses a 'decentralised' authorship model which allows authors anywhere around Australia to simply use a web browser to log into the password protected SQL database and then to upload images or text and to create or edit existing species entries. The 'centralised' data and image storage model means we store everything in one place which ensures the fastest possible returns of images and data to users of the website.

We have monitored the usage of PaDIL over the relatively short time it has been available (went live in late 2005) and the software has been modified to enhance changing usage patterns. Initially, when there were low number of species available, users concentrated on accessing individual species pages. However, with the 1100 plus species now available on PaDIL, users prefer to scroll through and compare images across groups of species. So, we enhanced the software to allow users to choose their species and diagnostic images and the software builds them a comparative image tailored to their choice. Literally, this allows them to see how characters change through range of species. The table also tabulates the written descriptions as well as the hosts and distributions for the species they have chosen.

In summary PaDIL provides:

query through navigation drop down boxes or Simple and Advanced query pages
a web page for each pest and disease
pest web pages containing full body and diagnostic character images
disease web pages containing images of the live disease and symptoms of the disease
montaged pest images providing full depth of field for images
the ability to enlarge, pan and zoom on these montage images
species pages including a description of the pest/disease, host and geographic ranges, as well as references and URLs of interest.

It offers users the ability to:

search or browse by (common and scientific) name, Hosts or Bioregions
select species and images to build Comparative Image Tables (an extensive array of predefined comparative image tables is also available)
email any webpage from within PaDIL
convert species web pages into a single page fact sheet.

PaDIL is an initiative of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (in particular OCCPO) and Plant Health Australia (PHA) and supported by the CRC National Plant Biosecurity. Authors include scientists from the Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, Queensland University of Technology, Museum Victoria, CSIRO Entomology, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Victorian Department of Primary Industries and Rural Solutions, South Australia.