The New Zealand kiwifruit industry is funding work to evaluate existing diagnostics for the biosecurity risk organism Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. Actinidae, a bacterium that is reported to cause summer cankers in kiwifruit plants in South Korea.

Cultures of this regulated organism have been transferred from the International Collection of Microbes from Plants (held at Landcare Research) to perform evaluations of the diagnostics at The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research’s approved physical containment facilities at Lincoln.

Any risks involved in this work are being mitigated by performing experiments under strict containment standards, which are enforced by MPI and the Environmental Risk Management Authority.

Validated tests will be used for the benefit of the industry by testing incoming material and providing a tool for rapid testing should we be faced with an incursion of this organism.

Last week KVH met with other steering group members for the third meeting of the Port of Tauranga Biosecurity Operational Excellence initiative.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) presented a risk profile analysis on Port of Tauranga (POTL), identifying the pests most commonly intercepted through this pathway to help the initiative target its efforts on these pests.

The group also agreed to develop performance monitoring criteria to support effectiveness of activities. 

Research providers from the National Science Challenge, B3 (Better Border Biosecurity) and Scion presented initial proposals on how science could help improve biosecurity effectiveness at the POT.

The next steering group meeting is scheduled for October.

As part of the new website, the Psa-V Risk Model has also undergone improvements – click here. The new model is hosted by HortPlus and is not only more cost-effective, but it also offers several improvements for kiwifruit growers. Benefits of the new Psa-V Risk Model include:

• receiving data from a wide range of weather station locations so growers can select the weather station closest to their orchard;
• display historical infection risk data, providing growers with the ability to review past infection risk (e.g. over the last season) to evaluate how well a control programme worked; and
• incorporate new information about the effect of temperature on Psa infection risk sourced from overseas data.

Users will also have access to a number of additional tools. These include a customisable chill unit calculator and customisable growing degree day calculator. They can both plot up to five combinations of weather station locations and seasons.

Growers can choose the start and stop date to define the period of interest. Although these tools are not directly related to Psa management, KVH believes they will add real value for growers looking to better understand the impact of weather on their vines.

Please note Edgecumbe (Te Teko), Whanganui (Pauls Road) and Waihi are listed on the new Model but are not yet receiving data. These will go live over the next week.

Budwood movement will be a focus for many suppliers and growers at this time of year, particularly to those cutting over to new licences and those with new plantings.

To eliminate the risk of disease transfer, please remember:

• Use the cleanest source of budwood, and from your own orchard where possible.
• Budwood suppliers must be registered with KVH and supply a copy of their Psa-V Risk Management Plan. Go to www.kvh.org.nz/indgrafters.
• Growers must only obtain budwood from a KVH-registered supplier.
• Budwood movement must comply with the controls outlined in KVH Protocol: Budwood.
• Movement of Gold3 budwood also requires Zespri authorisation.
• Budwood movement from Psa-V positive orchards is allowed in Recovery regions only. Please note, movement between Psa-V positive orchards between Recovery regions is subject to KVH authorisation and this may be withheld if alternative lower risk options are available.
• For ‘not detected’ orchards, monitoring, sampling and testing must occur within six weeks of budwood collection.
• Budwood collection area is to be sprayed with copper within four weeks of collection.
• Maintain tool hygiene and sanitisation.
• Records of budwood supplied and received must be maintained and kept with grower GAP records.

If you are unsure of the movement controls or have any queries, please contact KVH on 0800 665 825 or email info@kvh.org.nz.
 

Forevergreen Seedlings has joined the Kiwifruit Plant Certification Scheme (KPCS) and is the third nursery selling KPCS-certified plants in the Tauranga region. Forevergreen sells containerised plants grown undercover and is located in Te Puna.

Nine nurseries have now joined the KPCS and are supplying certified plants, demonstrating they are managing biosecurity risks, have been independently audited, visually inspected for target organisms and returned a non-detected result for a very comprehensive testing regime for Psa-V.

Three other nurseries are in the final stages of becoming part of the Scheme. Click here for a list of nurseries and their status.

Nurseries cannot produce plants they may not have a market for. Therefore, growers are reminded to place their orders at least a year in advance, as many nurseries have sold out this year. If you are having difficulty in sourcing plants please contact KVH on 0800 665 825.

KVH movement controls apply to all plant movements. See KVH Protocol: Nursery Stock.