Peronospora hyoscyami f.sp. tabacina is a quarantine pest for Israel
The Plant Protection Service of Israel has recently informed the EPPO Secretariat that Peronospora hyoscyami f.sp. tabacina (tobacco blue mould) is considered a quarantine pest in Israel as its distribution and host-range are limited to isolated non-commercial tobacco plots in the North of Israel and it is under official control. The disease was found for the first time in Israel in 1962 and caused problems on tobacco fields and seedbeds in the North (at present there is no commercial tobacco production in the country). There had been at that time a report of young capsicum (Capsicum annuum) seedlings, growing under plastic near infected tobacco seedbeds, which showed infection (Hindi, et al., 1965). This isolated observation had led to the assumption that C. annuum might be a host. From October 1996 to April 1998, a field survey was carried out in capsicum fields and glasshouses for tobacco blue mould and gave negative results. In addition, artificial infection experiments showed that C. annuum is not a host of tobacco blue mould. Finally, it is stressed that no symptoms of this disease have ever been observed on commercially grown solanaceous crops since the
mid-60s in Israel.
mid-60s in Israel.
Sources
Plant Protection and Inspection Services of Israel, 1998-06.
Hindi, E.; Dishon, I.; Nevo, D. (1965) Observations on tobacco blue mold in Israel.
Plant Disease Reporter, 49(2), 154-156.