Plant Protection News - October 2011

In this issue:

Handbook to assist with accurate identification of fruit flies
Training to enhance Australia’s expertise in identifying termites
Contingency plans boost Australia’s preparedness for three exotic plant pests
Cocoa pod borer national eradication program supported
Rice blast incursion deemed not eradicable
Australia assists development of Pacific biosecurity capacity building plan
Standards to be developed to help protect region, and Australia, from pests
Recent international pest reports

Handbook to assist with accurate identification of fruit flies

A handbook to assist Australian diagnosticians with the accurate identification of fruit flies has been produced.

The publication, titled ‘The Australian Handbook for the Identification of Fruit Flies’, integrates all the diagnostic techniques currently used in Australia for the identification of 48 species of exotic fruit flies.

The Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO) commissioned the development of the handbook to:

• enable diagnosticians in Australia with the capability in fruit fly diagnostics to effectively and efficiently distinguish fruit flies that pose a threat to production and market access from those that do not, and
• establish an agreed national standard that is able to facilitate rapid diagnosis and streamline a national response when suspected incursions occur.

The National Fruit Fly Strategy considers that Australia’s ability to accurately identify fruit flies is a key part of the country’s biosecurity system that:

• supports the domestic movement of fruit and vegetables
• maintains international market access for Australian producers, and
• protects Australia’s borders from exotic pest incursions.

The OCPPO commissioned Plant Health Australia (PHA) to facilitate the development of the handbook. PHA developed the handbook in consultation with and input from fruit fly entomologists, scientists, academics and diagnosticians from Australia’s government departments of agriculture or primary industries and research institutions.

The OCPPO commissioned the development of the handbook using funds from the Australian Government’s Securing the Future and Plant Biosecurity and Response Reform programs.

Fruit flies are considered a serious pest in horticultural.

A limited number of controlled copies of the handbook are available to Australian diagnostic laboratories from the OCPPO. Request a controlled copy of the handbook.

Training to enhance Australia’s expertise in identifying termites

An advanced training course on the diagnostics of termite species was held recently.

The training course on termite diagnostics, a part of the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer’s (OCPPO) Advanced Diagnosticians Development framework, was held from 14–24 June  2011 in Sydney, Australia.

The OCPPO commissioned an expert on termite diagnostics to deliver the in–depth training course to a group of entomologists from Australia’s government departments of agriculture and primary industries.

Throughout the two weeks of the training course, participants undertook a number of activities, including:

• a day in the field detecting, digging out, and then preparing termites for diagnosis
• resolving a mystery around the correct species name of a particular series of specimens that had been long proving problematic, and
• complex diagnostics of multiple forms of termite species, including species exotic to Australia.

The office expects that the training course will help retain Australia’s capability to rapidly diagnose termites, including exotic species, should incursions occur in the country.

The OCPPO’s Advance Diagnosticians Development framework is being piloted to address the problem of Australia’s declining high level expertise in plant diagnostics and will cover diagnostic training programs for a range of plant pest groups.

The OCPPO funded this training course through the Australian Government’s Quarantine Research and Preparedness Plan.

Contingency plans boost Australia’s preparedness for three exotic plant pests

Two contingency plans for exotic plant pests, one for turnip moth and the other for the cabbage seedpod weevil and the associated brassica pod midge, have recently been developed.

The Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO) commissioned a consultant to develop the contingency plans as part of Australia’s ongoing effort to improve its emergency response preparedness for exotic plant pests of concern to industry.

Australia’s plant health authorities recognise that contingency plans, which provide information on pest biology and control measures, are an important resource for the rapid development of response plans in the event of a pest incursion.

Authorities responsible for emergency plant pest response are able to use the plans to design practical solutions for responding to specific plant pests, while considering the regulatory and political environment.

The OCPPO has distributed the plans to Horticulture Australia Limited, Plant Health Australia, as well as the Chief Plant Protection Officers within the state and territory departments of primary industries and agriculture.

The Australian Government’s Quarantine Response and Preparedness Plan funds were used to develop the two contingency plans.

The turnip moth (Agrotis segetum) is a pest of crops such as canola, barley, oats, wheat and cotton, as well as horticultural plants such as brassica vegetables, tomato, lettuce and daisy.

The cabbage seedpod weevil (Ceutorhynchus assimilis) and the associated brassica pod midge (Dasineura brassicae) cause damage to a range of brassica species.

Plant Health Australia has published the contingency plans on its online Pest Information Document Database.

Cocoa pod borer national eradication program supported

Cocoa pod borer (Conopomorpha cramerella), an exotic insect pest detected in a cocoa plantation north of Cairns in Queensland in April 2011, is to be subject to a nationally cost–shared eradication program.

The National Management Group (NMG), the authoritative body that determines if a response will occur or not, agreed at a meeting in August 2011 to implement an eradication program for cocoa pod borer.

The NMG decision to implement an eradication program is based on advice from the Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pests (CCEPP) that it is technically feasible and economically beneficial to eradicate the pests.

The CCEPP is Australia’s key coordinating body which provides technical advice during plant health emergencies, and managed by the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer.

The NMG has released a communiqu¿ (August 2011) providing a summary of the response to cocoa pod borer.

Rice blast incursion deemed not eradicable

Rice blast (Magnaporthe grisea), an exotic fungi of rice detected in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) in Western Australia, has been deemed to be not eradicable.

The National Management Group (NMG), the authoritative body that determines if a response will occur or not, agreed at a meeting on 9 September 2011 that eradication of rice blast from ORIA is not technically feasible and that no national action is required.

The NMG decision that the incursion of rice blast in the ORIA was not eradicable took into account advice provided by the Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pests (CCEPP).

The CCEPP is Australia’s key coordinating body which provides technical advice during plant health emergencies, and managed by the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer.

The NMG has released a communiqu¿ (9 September  2011) providing a summary of the response to rice blast.

Australia assists development of Pacific biosecurity capacity building plan

A strategic plan for future biosecurity capacity building activities in the Pacific has been developed at a recent workshop, with assistance from Australia.

Representatives from Pacific Island Countries developed the plan at a workshop, facilitated by an officer from the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer (OCPPO), held in Nadi, Fiji from 8–9 September  2011.

At the workshop, participants identified the following priorities for biosecurity capacity building in the Pacific:

• phytosantiary legislation consultation
• regional diagnostic capacity and capability building
• operational facilities
• pest risk analysis training
• public awareness of biosecurity
• points of entry and exit facilities
• human resources and reference library for diagnostics, and
• sea container hygiene system.

Workshop participants anticipate that the strategic plan will contribute to the long term sustainability in the Pacific Island Country’s ability to protect plant health, food security and strengthen trade opportunities.

Pacific Island Countries will be able to use the plan to strengthen their position in seeking or receiving assistance with their biosecurity capacity building activities from donor countries.

The OCPPO, through its International Plant Protection program, anticipates that the plan will improve Pacific Island Countries capacity to manage plant health in the Pacific region, including Australia.

Workshop participants comprised of representatives from most Pacific Island Countries, including a core group from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Solomons and Vanuatu, that contributed to the initial gap analysis in biosecurity for the Pacific region.

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry funded the workshop through its International Agricultural Cooperation program.

Contact:

Australian IPPC Secretariat
Tel: 02 6272 4837

Standards to be developed to help protect region, and Australia, from pests

Three draft Regional Standards for Phytosanitary Measures will be developed to help protect regional countries, including Australia, from the impact and movement of exotic plant pest threats.

The Asia and Pacific Plant Protection Commission (APPPC), which met from 15–19 August  2011 in the Philippines, announced that it will develop draft standards for adoption at its next meeting. The regional standards to be developed are for:

• fumigation
• irradiation audit and accreditation of facilities, and
• pest movement by machinery.

The APPPC selected the topics for the standards to be developed based on gaps in the region where there were no International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures.

APPPC member countries will be invited to comment on the draft standards once reviewed and approved by the APPPC Standard Committee for member country consultation.

The Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, through the Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer and its Biosecurity Plant Division, will be leading and contributing to funding for the development of standards on fumigation and irradiation.

Australia plays an active role in the APPPC, the organisation established under the Plant Protection Agreement for the Asia and Pacific Region.

APPPC member country involvement benefits the region in terms of more effective plant protection policies and more efficient methods in addressing pest and pesticide problems.

The APPPC’s key objective is to promote exchange of information about plant protection among its members, including issues such as plant quarantine, pest and pesticide management activities.

Contact:

Australian IPPC Secretariat
Tel: 02 6272 4837

Recent international pest reports

Australia’s recent official pest reports to the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) are listed below. The Australian IPPC Secretariat prepares and adds the reports to the International Phytosanitary Portal as part of Australia’s party obligations to the IPPC.

• Detection of cocoa pod borer [Conophomorpha cramerella] on one property in Queensland
• Detection of rice blast (caused by Magnaporthe grisea) in the Ord River Irrigation Areas (ORIA) of Western Australia
• Detection of the Asian strain of bacterial canker of kiwifruit in Victoria, Australia
• Valsa malicola [apple canker] detected in Victoria, Australia
• Detection of Phytophthora elongate sp. nov. [tree decline] in Australia
• Detection of Entyloma ageratinae [white smut of mist flower] on mistflower in Queensland

Details for each of the above mentioned reports from Australia are provided on the IPPC website at Official Pest Report.