Western Australia
July 2, 2015
Researchers from Western Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) have begun studies to help the State’s $75 million cucurbit industry combat two critical virus disease threats.
Research in the Ord River Irrigation Area will gather vital information about the spread and management of severe disease caused by the south-east Asian strain of Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus (ZYMV).
ZYMV leaf symptoms: Leaf mosaic symptoms in leaf from a Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus in infected zucchini plant.
A second part of the project will examine Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV), which is new to Australia. It was first found last year in the Northern Territory, followed by detection on a property in Queensland. Western Australia is currently free of the virus.
The new project is among seven recently funded through the Boosting Biosecurity Defences project's Research and Development (R&D) Fund, made possible by Royalties for Regions.
DAFWA Principal Research Officer Roger Jones said the research would focus on filling critical information gaps and equip industry to better respond to these disease threats.
“Recently, epidemics of the ZYMV strain have become so severe in melon and pumpkin crops in the ORIA that they threaten local cucurbit industry viability,” Dr Jones said.
“The ZYMV strain greatly reduces yield and disfigures cucurbit fruits rendering them unsaleable.”
ZYMV fruit symptoms: The impact of Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus is shown on pumpkin yields, with high healthy pumpkin yield on the left and low infected, disfigured pumpkin yield on the right.
Field experiments at DAFWA’s Kununurra research station will examine the effectiveness of current ZYMV control techniques. These include seed dressing and foliar application with newer generation insecticides to kill its aphid vectors, and mineral oil application to prevent aphid vectors transmitting it to healthy plants.
“We will also be focusing on unravelling how the virus and its aphid vectors survive and spread, inside and outside the Ord River Irrigation Area growing season, and on explaining why epidemics are becoming increasingly severe,” Dr Jones said.
“We’re aiming to fill information gaps that will provide critical knowledge required to target vulnerabilities in the disease cycle and so develop integrated control procedures to effectively manage virus spread.
“The field experiments will be conducted by DAFWA’s research station manager Mark Warmington, and supervised by senior virologist Brenda Coutts and senior entomologist Sonya Broughton, who will also undertake the other virus and aphid studies.”
The research has strong industry support, with the Ord River District Co-operative (ORDCO), and local commercial cucurbit growers Ceres Farm, Barradale Farm and Bothkamp Australia Farm providing financial and in-kind support.
Bothkamp Australia Farm’s Christian Bloecker said it was pleasing to see direct Government support towards a project that could significantly aid the cucurbit industry in the Ord.
“It highlights the importance of having strong links between industry and DAFWA, and will hopefully provide us with management options around the spread and control of aphids and ZYMV,” he said.
The project will also investigate CGMMV control measures within secure quarantine facilities in Perth.
“CGMMV is spread by contact and seed,” Dr Jones said. “The aim is to devise effective biosecurity procedures to prevent CGMMV reaching WA, or, should it get through, eliminating it should it arrive.”
This research also forms part of DAFWA’s Growing the North program.
For more information on the R&D Fund projects, go to the DAFWA website agric.wa.gov.au/biosecurity/biosecurity-research-and-development-fund
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