Quarantine for orchard as kiwifruit canker found

Monday 8th November 2010

Kiwifuit growers face a two day wait to determine whether a canker found on a North Island orchard is the highly destructive Pseudomonas syringaepvactinidiae (Psa).

MAF Biosecurity New Zealand quarantined the property this morning and should know by Wednesday whether the disease is Psa, and is working closely with ZESPRI, Plant & Food Research, and New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc.

The announcement is understood not to be related to the trading halts imposed today on two kiwifruit growers: NZX-listed Seeka Kiwifruit Industries and NZAX-listed Satara Cooperative. The location of the orchard has not been revealed.

Seeka has experience of the canker, earlier this year booking around $1 million of the $7.2 million cost of destroying golden kiwifruit vines carried on an Italian orchard owned by Opotiki Packing and Cool Storage, in which Seeka has a 19.2% stake.

The disease creates a rusty ooze on the bark of twigs and trunks, blights young canes and plants, produces leaf spots and cankers, and leaves fruit looking shriveled.

“It’s important to note that there are different types of Psa. We are working with MAF to determine which one it is,” said a Zespri spokeswoman, Andrea Brady. “Options for treatment range from spraying to removing the vines. At this stage we don’t have fruit on the vines, only flowers; we are in the pollination phase. This bacteria infects the leaves.”

Psa was first identified on Japanese kiwifruit vines some 25 years ago. The canker has only limited capacity to spread to other fruit trees. It carries no risk to human or animal health.

Businesswire.co.nz

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