DNA tests and water baiting best catch nursery plant pathogens before they reach wildlands
Kashyap R, Lampe K, Miles TD, Neugebauer K, Martin FN
Native Plants
The native toyon and coffeeberry you buy for a habitat garden or restoration planting could carry root-rotting pathogens into nearby wild areas, and buying from nurseries with clean-plant certification lowers that risk.
Some nursery plants carry hidden root-rot organisms that spread into wild areas when the plants are set out. Researchers tested five ways to spot them, and the DNA-based tests and a trick using nursery runoff water worked best. The one nursery in the study with clean-plant certification had no infections at all.
Key Findings
Five diagnostic methods were compared: irrigation leachate baiting, ImmunoStrip, culture isolation, RPA and qPCR; RPA, qPCR and leachate baiting had the highest detection rates regardless of host, sampling time or pathogen species (P < 0.01).
Toyon and California coffeeberry were inoculated with P. cinnamomi, P. cactorum and P. cryptogea and sampled three times at six-week intervals to test detection over time.
Molecular assays consistently found Phytophthora in three horticultural and two native nurseries, while the AIR-certified nursery showed no Phytophthora and the lowest detection probability; a subset of results was validated by a second laboratory.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Water-mold pathogens called Phytophthora often hitchhike into wild restoration sites on nursery plants. A study of five testing methods found that DNA-based tests and water-baiting caught infections most reliably, and a nursery certified under California's clean-plant program had none.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Tactical Diagnostic Strategies at Native California Ornamental Nurseries for Preventing Phytophthora Havocs in Wildlands.
Native plant restoration efforts in California are continuously challenged by Phytophthora-induced diseases, particularly through nursery introductions, resulting in significant losses and distribu...
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Heteromeles arbutifolia, commonly known as toyon, is a perennial evergreen shrub or small tree with distinctive red fruits native to California, Oregon and Mexico. It is the sole species in the genus Heteromeles.