Australia
August 18, 2006
CSIRO will oversee the
national release of eight strains of the leaf-rust fungus,
Phragmidium violaceum, in a move to enhance biological control
of blackberry.
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The new strain of leaf-rust
fungus. |
Dr Louise Morin, of CSIRO
Entomology and the Cooperative Research Centre for Australian
Weed Management, says that release kits with easy-to-follow
guidelines are being made available over the next three years to
landowners and managers in NSW, ACT, Queensland, South Australia
and Western Australia. The Victorian Department of Primary
Industries is managing a parallel state-based program.
“To identify suitable release
sites, we are inviting expressions of interest during August and
September,” Dr Morin says. “However, as the number of kits is
limited, release of the fungus strains at chosen sites will be
staggered over the three years. Not all nominated sites will be
suitable.”
The three-year project is a
research partnership between CSIRO, the Victorian Department of
Primary Industries and the University of Tasmania, with funding
from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry’s Defeating the Weed Menace Initiative.
The leaf-rust fungus,
originally from Europe, has already been introduced into
Australia: an unauthorised introduction in the early 1980s and
authorised releases of a French strain in 1991 and 1992. In
2004, approval was given for the first releases of an additional
eight strains.
“These are the strains that we are now releasing on a large
scale,” Dr Morin says. “They were collected from Australian
blackberry genotypes planted in a trap garden at the CSIRO
European Laboratory in Montpellier, France.
“Before being approved for
release, they were rigorously tested in CSIRO’s Containment
Facility in Canberra to show they were not a threat to
commercial blackberry cultivars or native Rubus species.”
Since its introduction, the
leaf-rust has provided useful blackberry control in some areas,
but its effectiveness has been limited by resistance in some
blackberry biotypes. Simultaneous releases of the additional
rust strains will overcome this because, as a group, they can
infect the range of blackberry biotypes in Australia.
Where the rust strains
establish, they should reduce - but not eradicate - blackberry
infestations. Biological control using the rust fungus will
complement existing control methods. It will be particularly
useful at sites where the use of other control methods is
inappropriate or impractical.
Land owners or managers who
want to lodge an expression of interest should contact:
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
http://www.csiro.au/csiro/content/standard/ps21m,,.html
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