Country: United States

Title: Citrus Canker (Xanthomonas spp.) - APHIS adds St. Bernard Parish and Portions of Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Charles, and Lafourche Parishes in Louisiana to the domestic citrus canker quarantine

Contact:
Mary Palm, Citrus Health Response Program National Coordinator at 301-851-2069, or Angela McMellen Brannigan, Citrus Disease Program National Policy Manager at 301-851-2314.

Report:

Effective immediately, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is expanding the areas quarantined for citrus canker (CC) in Louisiana.

Following the positive identification of Xanthomonas spp., the bacterial causal agent of CC from a sweet orange tree located in New Orleans, Louisiana, APHIS and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry completed a delimiting survey. APHIS established a federal quarantine on February 10, 2014.

A Federal Order adds the entirety of St. Bernard Parish and portions of Lafourche Parish in Louisiana to the CC quarantined area in the United States. The Federal Order also expands the existing quarantine in portions of Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Charles Parishes in Louisiana. Louisiana has established an intra-state quarantined area for CC that parallels the federal CC regulatory requirements as specified in 7 CFR §301.75.

Under the current CC quarantine regulations, the interstate movement of citrus plants and plant parts, other than commercially packed and disinfected citrus fruit, remains prohibited with the following exception: Citrus nursery stock that is moved in accordance with regulations contained in 7 CFR §301.76 may move from areas quarantined for CC.

Under IPPC Standards, species of Xanthomonas that cause citrus canker are considered to be pests that are present, only in some areas in Florida and Louisiana, and subject to official control in the United States.
 

Posted Date: July 15, 2016, 9 a.m.