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Wart disease on potato on Prince Edward Island, Canada


A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org>

Date: Sat 30 Aug 2014

Source: Grainews, AGCanada report [edited] <http://www.grainews.ca/daily/p-e-i-field-quarantined-with-potato-wart>

Field quarantined with potato wart

----------------------------------

A 35 acre [14 ha] field on Prince Edward Island [PEI] is under quarantine and its crops set to be destroyed after the plot was confirmed to have potato wart. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency [CFIA] has ordered "movement controls" on all equipment, plants, potato tubers and soil from the affected farm.

CFIA said it's now sampling and testing soil and material from other fields in the area, looking for "any possible further infestation".

Results of those tests are expected in the coming weeks. Recent movements of crops and equipment from the affected farm are also being traced to identify any other "potentially implicated properties".

Equipment and machinery on the farm will be cleaned and disinfected to prevent potential spread of the disease. All crops from the field will be destroyed and securely disposed of.

Canada set up a long-term potato wart management plan after the pest was first detected in PEI in 2000 [see ProMED-mail post 20001028.1877 and link below]. The plan lays out "regulatory requirements" to manage potato wart detections and prevent "trade disruptions." In Canada, the fungus is only known to have appeared in PEI and Newfoundland.

--

communicated by: ProMED-mail  <promed@promedmail.org>

[Potato wart disease (PW) is caused by the fungus _Synchytrium endobioticum_, which is considered one of the most important pathogens of the crop. It is endemic in Europe and also reported from a number of locations in the Americas, Australasia (including the South Island of New Zealand), and Africa. The pathogen can also affect tomato and some solanaceous weeds.

On infected tubers, 'eyes' develop into characteristic warty, cauliflower-like swellings. If infected early, the whole tuber can be replaced by a warty proliferation. Warts darken with age and eventually rot and disintegrate. Plant vigour is reduced and both quantity and quality of harvested tubers is severely affected.

Diagnosis requires laboratory confirmation as similar symptoms can be caused by other pathogens. The fungus goes through cycles of proliferation and reinfection as long as cool, wet conditions prevail and is therefore less damaging in warm, light, well drained soils.

The disease is spread with soil (for example on farm tools), by infected seed tubers and also in manure from animals fed on infected potatoes. The fungus can survive in soil for up to 40 years in the absence of a host. Disease management is based on pathogen exclusion by quarantine regulations and the control of local pathogen spread.

Fungicides are ineffective, but some experimental fumigation treatments have been shown to kill resting sporangia (see link below).

There are several pathotypes defined by their virulence on different host cultivars. Potato varieties resistant to a number of them have been developed but new pathogen strains are emerging compromising the efficacy of host plant resistance.

Maps

Canada:

<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/canada_pol_1986.gif> and <http://healthmap.org/promed/p/270>

Prince Edward Island:

<http://homer.ca/images/peimap.gif>

 

Pictures

Potato wart symptoms:

<http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/images/wart.jpg>,

<http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Article%20Images/Potato_Fig01.jpg>,

and

<http://www.forestryimages.org/images/768x512/0454023.jpg>

Photo gallery of tuber symptoms and fungal structures:

<http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/fungi/Synchytrium_endobioticum/SYNCEN_images.htm>

 

Links

CFIA press release:

<http://www.inspection.gc.ca/plants/plant-protection/diseases/potato-wart/notice-to-industry-2014-08-29/eng/1409246243718/1409246331220>

Information on potato wart disease:

<http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/fungi/Synchytrium_endobioticum/SYNCEN_ds.pdf>,

<http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/publications/documents/factsheets/pwd.pdf>,

<http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/PotatoWart.aspx>,

<http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/pestrava/synend/tech/synende.shtml>,

and

<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070618102406.htm>

First report of PW on PEI:

<http://www.pestalert.org/viewArchPestAlert.cfm?rid=41>

Potato wart diagnosis:

<http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/fungi/Synchytrium_endobioticum/pm7-28(1)%20SYNCEN%20web.pdf>

Control of potato wart by fumigation:

<http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/abs/10.4141/cjps70-123>

_S. endobioticum_ taxonomy:

<http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=120395>

CFIA:

<http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/toce.shtml> - Mod.DHA]

 

[See Also:

2012

---

Wart disease, potato - New Zealand: (SO) 20120924.1306359 Wart disease, potato - UK: (N Ireland) eradication 20120820.1252253

2009

---

Wart disease, potato - India: (WB) 20091225.4346

2007

---

Potato wart disease - Canada: (PEI), spread 20071102.3559 Pale cyst nematode & wart, potato - USA 20070629.2088

2006

---

Quarantine Pests, New Data - EPPO (02) 20060531.1521 Potato wart disease - Turkey (Ordu Province): 1st report

20050406.0990

2003

---

Plant pests, new data, EPPO 20031204.2986 Potato wart disease - Estonia: eradicated 20030731.1872

2002

---

Potato wart disease - Canada (PEI) (02) 20020907.5253 Potato wart disease - Canada (Prince Edward Island) 20020906.5243 and older items in the archives]



More news from: ISID (International Society for Infectious Diseases)


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Published: September 1, 2014

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