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.
1
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).
2
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.
3
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.
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