Country: United States

Title: Elsinoë australis (causal agent of Sweet Orange Scab): APHIS adds Baldwin and Mobile Counties in Alabama to the Domestic Quarantine Area

Contact:
Shailaja Rabindran, Director of Specialty Crops and Cotton Pests, at 301-851-2167.

Report:

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI), is establishing a quarantine for Elsinoë australis, the fungal causal agent of sweet orange scab (SOS), in all of Baldwin and Mobile Counties in Alabama to prevent the spread of the disease.

In Baldwin County, the quarantine area encompasses seven nurseries and 60 acres of citrus. In Mobile County, the quarantine area includes seven nurseries and 50 acres of citrus. APHIS is applying safeguarding measures on the interstate movement of regulated articles from these quarantine areas to prevent further spread of the pathogen to non-infested areas of the United States. These safeguarding measures parallel the intrastate quarantine established by ADAI in June 2020.

Elsinoë australis was first detected in the United States in July 2010; and with these recent detections, is known to occur in Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and portions of California and Alabama. This Federal Order supersedes Federal Order, DA-2016-55, but does not change the requirements for interstate movement of regulated articles from these quarantine areas.

A description of all current SOS quarantine areas, Federal Orders, and other supporting regulatory documents may be found at:

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/sweet-orange-scab

Under IPPC Standards, Elsinoë australis the agent that causes sweet orange scab is a pest that is present: not widely distributed and under official control  in the United States.

Posted Date: Dec. 17, 2021, 3:37 p.m.