Country: United States

Title: Elsinoë australis (Sweet Orange Scab) - Update in California

Contact:
Mary Palm, National Coordinator for Citrus Pest Programs at 301-851-2069.

Report:

In 2013, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the fungal causal agent of sweet orange scab (SOS) on citrus fruit samples collected from trees in Imperial, Los Angeles, and Riverside Counties in California.

The SOS detections resulted from surveys for the disease by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) as part of the cooperative Citrus Health Response Program (CHRP). Following delimitation surveys for SOS in citrus-producing areas of California, CDFA issued an SOS Pest Exclusion Advisory (October 1, 2014) and an SOS Nursery Advisory (December 9, 2014). In addition, CDFA established four SOS regulated areas consisting of the area within a five-mile radius of each SOS detection site.

In Imperial County, the regulated area includes 2,162 acres of citrus in the Calipatria area and 140 acres of citrus in the Winterhaven area. The Blythe regulated area of Riverside County includes one nursery and 1,370 acres of citrus. The Pomona regulated area encompasses 13 nurseries in Los Angeles County and one in San Bernardino County, as well as 37 acres of citrus. In total, the four SOS regulated areas place 15 nurseries and 3,709 acres of citrus under regulation.

CDFA will conduct enforcement activities under its statutory authority and is enacting quarantines within a 5-mile radius of the detection sites. After CDFA publishes an intrastate quarantine for sweet orange scab, APHIS will enact an interstate quarantine and post details about it at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-health/sweet-orange-scab .

Sweet orange scab was first found in Texas in 2010; since then, it has been detected in Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Through CHRP, APHIS works with all affected state departments of agriculture and industries to administer the provisions of a Federal Order that facilitates the safe movement of regulated commodities.

Under IPPC Standards, Elsinoë australis is considered to be a pest that is present: subject to official control in the United States.
 

Posted Date: April 9, 2015, 9 a.m.