Amarillo, Texas
April 28, 2004
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
questions on plant diseases have added significance, said Dr.
Charles Rush, plant pathologist with the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station at Amarillo.
Plant pests, including weeds, insects and diseases, cause
extensive yield losses to crops every year.
"Intentional or unintentional introduction of exotic pests or
pathogens could directly increase these losses,"Rush said.
Protecting the country's agriculture is vital to food safety,
said Rush, who has joined other land-grant university scientists
in a national system of diagnostic laboratories charged with
protecting homeland agriculture.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture set up the National Plant
Disease Diagnostic Network and designated five regional
university coordinators: Cornell University for the northeast,
Michigan State University for the north central, Kansas State
University for the Great Plains, University of California at
Davis for the west, and the University of Florida for the
southern region. The National Agricultural Pest Information
System operated by Purdue University serves as data collection
archive.
The Texas A&M University System Agriculture Program connects
with the NPDN via the Great Plains and Southern networks. Texas
is the only state with two regions.
High Plains production is vastly different from that to the
south. Rush's program fits best with the Great Plains Diagnostic
Network and its coordination through KSU. He is also an adjunct
professor with Texas Tech University, which marks GPDN's
southern boundary.
Other GPDN cooperators include: Colorado State University,
Montana State University, North Dakota State University,
Oklahoma State University, South Dakota State University, Texas
Tech, University of Nebraska, and University of Wyoming. A
common software platform allows rapid processing of diagnostic
requests and information among these units.
As regional bio-security activities have increased, Rush and his
associates, Dr. Jeff Stein, plant pathologist, and Kim Maxson,
plant disease diagnostician, have briefed government
congressional and state legislative officials, including those
from USDA Plant Health and Inspection Service Plant Protection
and Quarantine Division and Texas Department of Agriculture.
Stein said the introduction of invasive species in this country
isn't new, but with increased international commerce, the risks
are likely to become more common. Two recent arrivals in the
U.S. – citrus canker and plum pox – prompted "zero tolerance"
quarantines where the affected fruit trees had to be destroyed.
"If an orchard has either disease, the site is essentially
gutted and the grower is left with a huge economic loss," he
said.
The Great Plains produces 95 percent of the nation's sunflower
acres, 84 percent of the sorghum, 73 percent of the wheat, 55
percent of the dry beans, 42 percent of the cotton, and 35
percent of the sugar beets. The region also grows much of the
corn, soybeans, potatoes, alfalfa and canola-rape seed.
Wheat takes a large slice of this regional production pie.
Karnal bunt, among other pests, is an unwelcome visitor. Texas
was one of only three U.S. states with a confirmed threat within
its boundaries. From karnal bunt's arrival in 1996 until last
year, the disease caused an estimated $350 million loss
nationally.
"We're not only concerned over natural occurrences, but now
worry about agroterrorism," said Stein. He pointed to Rush's
work on many significant plant diseases including sorghum ergot,
wheat streak mosaic virus, and rhizomania, a soil-borne virus
affecting sugar beets.
Federal and state agencies monitor national borders for plant
pest introductions. Still, on occasion, new ones will slip
through. Growers often spot these anomalies, Stein explained.
Professionals at land-grant universities handle the
identification and verification.
A national "first detector" network has been expanded, Rush
said. Front-line monitors include: growers, extension personnel,
crop consultants, pesticide applicators, commercial chemical and
seed representatives, and others involved in plant growth or
management, including Master Gardeners.
"They will access a web-based diagnostic system, report unusual
pest occurrences and existing crop conditions or gain other
information not normally submitted through other means," he
said. An advisory system will provide information concerning
pest alarms or weather conditions that could trigger outbreaks.
According to GPDN director Dr. Jim Stack at KSU, the web-based
Plant Disease Information System is designed to help land-grant
personnel submit plant samples, digital images and other details
for row-crop pest diagnosis.
The advantages include rapid evaluation and reporting of
potential threats, and shorter response time for diagnoses.
Linking satellite labs across the country with regulatory
agencies, including the USDA-APHIS and each state's department
of agriculture is under way, Stack said.
Recently the Amarillo lab hosted 20 diagnosticians and program
coordinators from each state within the network during a site
visit and security review in Amarillo. Stein and Maxson trained
the diagnosticians in new diagnostic techniques slated for
adoption by participating laboratories.
"The fact these professionals from across the Great Plains came
here to be trained speaks to the quality of our lab personnel
and acknowledges the technical expertise found here,"Rush said.
"We're pleased to have Dr. Rush's labs at Bushland and here
connected to the Great Plains network," said Dr. John Sweeten,
Experiment Station research director at the Texas A&M University
System Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Amarillo.
The Panhandle-based lab is providing Texas agriculture a
regional resource for crop sample processing. Experts there tie
plant disease diagnostics to entomology and weed science to
provide accurate and rapid assessments of crop pests. Row crop
disease surveys through Extension also help monitor the
occurrence of many established and exotic plant diseases in the
state, Rush said.
The Office of Homeland Security, USDA-APHIS and TDA are
underwriting the surveys. For more information about GPDN, and
the Texas High Plains Plant Pathology Program, visit these
online resources:
http://www.gpdn.org and
http://thppp.tamu.edu/gpdn/
Writer: Pam Dillard, (806)
677-5600, p-dillard@tamu.edu
Contact: Charles Rush, (806) 354-5804,
cm-rush@tamu.edu
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