Update on the situation of Fireblight in France
Further to the announcement, via the EPPO Reporting Service (no. 78/8-419 RSE), of the presence of fireblight in SW France, the following details have now been made available by the French Plant Protection Service.
Extensive surveys were made immediately after the disease was detected. Only pear trees were found to be involved, variety Passe Crassane being the most affected. Two foci were found, one in Lot-et-Garonne and the other on the border of Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The affected orchards in Lot-et-Garonne cover 28 ha in the communes of Damazan, Buzet-sur-Baise, Saint-Léger and Aiguillon. They form a bloc several km in diameter within a region with many orchards, including 14 ha of pear orchards still free from the disease. No disease has been found in the remaining 1300 ha of pear orchards in the département.
The other focus affects 62 ha in Landes (in the communes of Port de Lanne, Estibeaux, Mouscardes, Pouillon, Cauneilles, Labatut, Bonnegarde, Saint-Etienne d'Orthes and Gaas), out of a total of 175 ha of pear orchards in the département. In Pyrénées-Atlantiques (with 70 ha of pear orchards), 2 ha are affected in the commune of Lahontan and 14 ha in Labastide-Villefranche.
In the three départements concerned, all pear orchards found to be contaminated have been uprooted and burnt by prefectoral order .The same applied to all adjoining orchards.
No fireblight has been found in nurseries in spite of intensive inspections of all susceptible fruit tree or ornamental species. However, sale of all nursery material from the affected areas and the adjoining communes has been prohibited.
All susceptible nursery material of fruit trees and ornamentals has been destroyed by prefectoral order. The growers concerned have been fully compensated.
All operations were carried out under the supervision of the Plant Protection Service.
A thorough survey will be made throughout France in 1979, with special attention to the Aquitaine region.
Sources
Plant Protection Service, Paris (1979-05)