Source: Kentucky Pest News 06/19/2006
by Paul Vincelli, Extension Plant Pathologist & Paul Bachi, Plant Diagnostician

For the second growing season, the University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture has a fully functional web-based consulting system for rapid communication about real-time plant-related diseases and other problems. This system allows county Extension agents to upload digital images and key information in order to obtain an expert consultation.

New cases are triaged several times each day by UK plant diagnosticians, who either respond directly or assign the case to the appropriate Extension specialist. One of the unique features of this system is its capacity to invite experts from outside UK to consult on a particular case without compromising the overall security of the system:
the consultant can only study and respond to the case on which s/he is invited to comment. Although every county Extension office can use the Digital Consulting System (DCS), at least one county office in every Extension District is equipped with a dissecting microscope and digital camera for transmission of images magnified up to 45X.

The relevance of this to agricultural biosecurity is that the DCS provides a rapid and secure means of communication between agents, specialists and national experts on plant disease issues that may be of regulatory significance. Time is of the essence when a new disease is introduced--whether by natural means or terrorist action-- because efforts to contain and eradicate an introduced disease depend to a large degree on how quickly the infestation is detected.

For most plant disease problems, this system does not substitute for laboratory- based plant disease diagnosis, but it greatly increases communication abilities. In addition to increasing speed of communication, the DCS helps reduce the risk of accidental spread of a newly introduced disease. For example, if DCS consultation indicates that a disease problem may be new and of regulatory significance, Extension agents can be informed in advance about special handling precautions when preparing and submitting live plant samples.