As advised in last week’s KVH Bulletin, the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) group within the Ministry for Primary Industries has approved a limited-label claim for KeyStrepto™ for use as a Psa-V protectant on producing and non-producing kiwifruit vines.
The conditions of use for KeyStrepto™ include:
Growers must refer to the KeyStrepto™ User Guide for detailed rules of use, including sward management, notification, signage, record keeping etc.
Growers are now responsible for ensuring the conditions of use are complied with. KVH will no longer be conducting pre-use audits.
Zespri will once again test 100 percent of supplying orchards for more than 300 residues – including antibiotics – in the 2015 season.
Hundreds of growers and people attending this year’s Mystery Creek Fieldays have visited the Zespri tent over the last two days to sample fruit and hear from Zespri, KVH and NZKGI representatives during the daily lunchtime presentations.
KVH operational and biosecurity staff are available on site with information about KVH and its Psa-V and biosecurity roles.
Feedback from growers has been very positive, with many growers keen to share their knowledge and experience on how they are protecting their orchards.
For those planning on attending the Fieldays, KVH will be onsite again tomorrow (Friday) and Chief Executive Barry O’Neil will be giving a short update during the lunchtime presentations.
Click here for more information about Mystery Creek Fieldays.
Due to the severe storm being experienced around the country, growers should be protecting their vines by applying a protective copper spray as soon as possible following the rain. Storm damage, including multiple leaf scars from leaves being stripped from vines, create Psa-V entry points.
Copper applications have shown to be the most effective control of Psa-V during the post-harvest and dormancy periods.
Follow label instructions and use winter rates.
Growers with high-risk blocks, including those showing Psa-V infection and young vines, may also consider antibacterial products.
As advised in the KVH Bulletin (29 May) nurseries can now certify their kiwifruit plants to the Core Standard under the Kiwifruit Plant Certification Scheme (KPCS).
This means growers will soon be able to purchase certified kiwifruit plants from participating nurseries, giving them assurance they are investing in the best possible start when establishing new vines.
Click here for a short information brochure about the KPCS and its benefits; or go to www.kvh.org.nz/kpcs.
The second border pathway to feature the KVH profile series is International Mail. Each year 40 to 50 million mail items are processed at New Zealand’s International Mail Centre, located near Auckland Airport. MPI’s biosecurity team use risk profiling, x-rays and detector dogs to screen and process incoming mail on this pathway and seize around 40,000 biosecurity risk items annually.
Mail is considered a low risk pathway for the entry of fruit fly host items; and in the past 12 months only one fruit fly host item has been intercepted on this pathway. However, as a precautionary measure in response to this year’s Queensland Fruit Fly finds in Whangarei, MPI have increased detector dog presence to 100 percent coverage for all high risk mail items.
Click here to learn more about how biosecurity is managed on the international mail pathway.
Using Gold3 potted plants, this trial was to determine the efficacy of a range of elicitors and forchlorfenuron products in inducing a plant immune response to Psa-V.
All the elicitors, except Alexin, significantly reduced leaf spot in Gold3 group up to 37 days post Psa-V inoculation (p < 0.05). None of the elicitors significantly reduced secondary symptoms. Actigard™, which was used as a positive control, had the greatest effect in reducing leaf spotting and secondary symptoms compared with the Psa-V group.
Testing the products in this trial on other kiwifruit varieties may result in a different response to ones observed in this trial, as an elicitor response may be kiwifruit variety-specific.
Click here to read the full report on ‘Latest R&D Reports’ on the KVH website.
The Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) group within the Ministry for Primary Industries has approved a limited-label claim for KeyStrepto™ for use as a Psa-V protectant on producing and non-producing kiwifruit vines.
The conditions of use for KeyStrepto™ include:
Growers must refer to the KeyStrepto™ User Guide for detailed rules of use, including sward management, notification, signage, record keeping etc.
Zespri will once again test 100 percent of supplying orchards for more than 300 residues – including antibiotics – in the 2015 season.
Welcome to the new format of the KVH Bulletin. This new format allows readers to view content at a glance and choose to read specific articles most relevant or of interest to them.
By clicking on the ‘read more’ button under each summary, users will be linked to the full article on the KVH website.
A full, print-friendly copy of the KVH Bulletin remains available to those who prefer a printable version on the KVH website here.
KVH Bulletin articles and latest news will also automatically appear on the KVH website homepage. This way, the latest news and updates will be available to website users as soon as they arrive on the KVH website.
KVH continues to work with Zespri and ACVM to confirm label claims and use conditions for KeyStrepto™ and Kasumin® post 15 June 2014. Currently both products cannot be used before 15 June unless a Justified Approval (JA) is issued by Zespri, and only under extenuating circumstances.
Unless we receive confirmation from ACVM as to the use condition, this date is likely to be extended.
KVH will advise growers of progress through the KVH Bulletin.
Psa-V infection has been confirmed in Japan.
The disease was first found last month in the Ehime Prefecture, Japan’s largest kiwifruit production area; and soon after was confirmed in the Southern area of the Fukuoka Prefectural.
Growers in both regions have cut out all infected vines.
The Prefectural Governments together with agricultural officials and advisors are investigating the extent of the spread; and advising growers of best-practice control measures including monitoring for early detection, cutting out infected material and tool sterilisation.
Emergency financial assistance has been offered to kiwifruit growers’ for disease prevention measures.
Coromandel harvest is now complete and most crops have achieved close to their estimate. Growers have been actively applying copper and Actigard™ post-harvest.
Psa-V symptoms have recently increased, particularly in Hort16A and Gold9 orchards. One of the original Psa-V Gold9 sites is described as 95 percent clear of Psa-V symptoms. This follows an aggressive copper programme.
M33 males in a Gold9 orchard are expressing cane and shoot dieback. However M91 males in the same block appear to be clear of symptoms.
Growers are reporting Gold3 as clear of symptoms, except for those that were grafted onto heavily infected rootstock.
Conversion of Hort16A orchards will continue this winter. Some Hort16A growers whose orchards are not showing symptoms will continue for a 2015 crop.
A Coromandel kiwifruit grower recently received an email from California-based company Pollen Technologies, offering to supply kiwifruit pollen for artificial pollination. It appears the pollen is sourced from either the United States or China with samples available upon request.
KVH immediately alerted MPI Imports and Exports Group (plants) of the email and contacted the Californian company to inform them that: importation of any pollen into New Zealand for plant breeding purposes is currently prohibited; the company should not solicit enquires from New Zealand; and to immediately stop all promotion of their pollen products and services in New Zealand.
KVH included information regarding the National Psa-V Risk Management Plan’s rules and risk management around artificial pollination within New Zealand.
MPI also contacted the supplier to confirm pollen imports are strictly prohibited.
The company has confirmed it has not sent pollen to New Zealand and it will abide with KVH requests and not seek orders or offer samples of pollen to New Zealand kiwifruit growers.
If any growers receive any further offers of pollen or samples of pollen from a Californian, Chinese, or any overseas based company, then please alert KVH and MPI immediately. The MPI contact should be made through the MPI exotic pest and disease hotline: 0800 80 99 66.
