EPPO Global Database

EPPO Reporting Service no. 11 - 2006 Num. article: 2006/224

New data on quarantine pests and pests of the EPPO Alert List


By browsing through the literature, the EPPO Secretariat has extracted the following new data concerning quarantine pests and pests included on the EPPO Alert List. The situation of the pest concerned is indicated in bold, using the terms of ISPM no. 8.

  • New records
Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria (EPPO A2 list) was detected in the Republic of Macedonia during surveys done in pepper crops (Capsicum annuum). Bacterial strains were characterized as belonging to type A, and were identified to races P0 and P2 (Mitrev and Kovačević, 2006). The EPPO Secretariat had previously no data on the occurrence of this bacterium in Macedonia. Present, no detail.

  • Detailed records
Surveys were done in autumn 2005 in Kosovo (RS) for the presence of fruit tree phytoplasmas. Symptoms resembling those of apple proliferation, pear decline and European stone fruit yellows were observed in all orchards studied. Samples were collected and tested. The presence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma mali’ (EPPO A2 list), ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri’ (EPPO A2 list) was detected in 6 apple trees and 3 pear trees, respectively. ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma prunorum’ was not detected. This is the first record of apple proliferation and pear decline in Kosovo (Myrta et al., 2006).

During extensive surveys carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina for stone fruit viruses in 2003, 16 isolates of Plum pox virus (Potyvirus – EPPO A2 list) were typed. Isolates were collected from peach and plum, and from various parts of the country. 4 isolates were identified as PPV-M, 8 as PPV-D, and 4 as natural D/M recombinants. This high variability of PPV isolates fits with the presence of this virus over a long period of time in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Matic et al., 2006).

An outbreak of Ralstonia solanacearum (EPPO A2 list) was observed on tomato crops (Lycopersicon esculentum) in Nigeria. In June 1996, 80% of tomato fields in the production area of Ogun state presented wilt symptoms. Later surveys done in 1998 in Edo, Delta, Lagos, Oyo and Osun states showed that 60-80% of the tomato fields were infected. Laboratory studies showed that all collected isolates belonged to R. solanacearum biovar 3. According to the authors, this is the first report of R. solanacearum biovar 3 in Nigeria (Adebayo and Epko, 2005).

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (Begomovirus, TYLCV – EPPO A2 list) is reported for the first time in Sardegna, Italy. In addition to Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV), TYLCV was detected during recent surveys conducted in tomato glasshouses in the province of Cagliari (Nannini et al., 2005).

Venturia nashicola (EU Annexes) is an economically important disease on pears (Pyrus bretschneideri) in China. It occurs at least in the Shandong and Shanxi provinces (Lian et al., 2006).

Xylella fastidiosa (EPPO A1 list) is reported for the first time from Oklahoma (US). An elm tree (Ulmus americana) located in a botanical garden showed symptoms of leaf scorch in summer 2004, and molecular studies confirmed the presence of the bacterium (Olson et al., 2006).

  • New host plants

Rhamnus purshiana (Rhamnaceae), Crataegus douglasii and Prunus laurocerasus (both Rosaceae) have been identified as new hosts of Rhagoletis indifferens (Diptera: Tephritidae – EPPO A1 list) in Washington state, USA (Yee and Goughnour, 2005).

In Poland, Tomato black ring virus (Nepovirus – EU Annexes) was identified in courgettes (Cucurbita pepo var. giromantiina). Affected plants showed leaf mosaic and fruit deformation (Pospieszny and Borodynko, 2005).

Sources

Adebayo OS, Ekpo JA (2005) Biovar of Ralstonia solanacearum causing bacterial wilt of tomato in Nigeria. Plant Disease 89(10), p1129.
Lian S, Li BH, Xu XM (2006) Formation and development of pseudothecia of Venturia nashicola. Journal of Phytopathology 154(2), 119-124.
Matic S, Al-Rwahnih M, Myrta A (2006) Diversity of Plum pox virus isolates in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Plant Pathology 55(1), 11-17.
Mitrev S, Kovačević B (2006) Characterization of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria isolated from peppers in Macedonia. Journal of Plant Pathology 88(3), 321-324.
Myrta A, Martini M, Susuri L, Susuri HS, Carraro L (2006) First report of apple proliferation and pear decline phytoplasmas in Kosovo. Journal of Plant Pathology 88(1), 121-125.
Nannini M, Testa M, Napoli C, Accotto GP (2005) [First report of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) in Sardinia.] Informatore Fitopatologico 6, 53-56 (in Italian).
Olson BR, Dominiak J, von Broembsen S, Berg M, Bextine BR (2006) First report of Xylella fastidiosa in Oklahoma. Plant Disease 90(1), p 108.
Pospieszny H, Borodynko N (2005) First report of Tomato black ring virus (TBRV) in the natural infection of zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L. convar giromantiina) in Poland. Journal of Plant Protection Research 45(4), 321-325.
Yee WL, Goughnour RB (2005) New hosts of western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens (Diptera: Tephritidae), and their relationship to life history characteristics of this fly. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 98(5), 703-710.