The new EU legislation in the field of plant health, i.e. Plant Health Regulation, which will be mandatory for all member states, is entering into force. According to this Regulation, individual EU countries will have to perform activities for preventing entry and spreading of the quarantine pests in the territory of the Union. Among other things, the Regulation assigns execution of multi-year survey programs, preparation of contingency plans and performing simulation exercises for selected quarantine pests, harmful for the plants in the EU area, to the member countries. The new legislation addresses very diverse fields therefore the EU requirements will have to be performed accordingly to the individual sectors (e.g. horticulture, agriculture, forestry). The enforcement of the new legislation will represent a major challenge in the forestry, since the forests are extremely complex ecosystems with numerous features, which will have to be considered and to which the actions will have to be adjusted. In Slovenia, the harmonization of the Plant Health Regulation with the legislation on the field of the forestry and environment protection will represent a vast undertaking. We addressed the challenge in the CRP project, Development of the organizational and technical support for effective actions against the outbreaks of forest pests. Its primary goal is to connect organizations, needed for performing activities on occasion of quarantine pest outbreak in the forest, to set their tasks, prepare a list of adequately trained entrepreneurs, and to prepare the contingency plans for priority pests and their outbreaks in the forest.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5588902
Fusarium circinatum Nirenberg & O'Donnel is listed among the species recommended for regulation as quarantine pests in Europe. Over 60 Pinus species are susceptible to the pathogen and it also causes disease on Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) and species in genera such as Picea and Larix. The European Food Safety Authority considers the probability of new introductions via contaminated seeds, wood material, soil and growing substrates, natural means and human activities into the EU very likely. Due to early detection, constant surveillance and control measures, F. circinatum outbreaks have officially been eradicated in Italy and France. However, the global spread of F. circinatum suggests that the pathogen will continue to be encountered in new environments in the future. Therefore, continuous surveillance of reproductive material, nurseries and plantations, prompt control measures and realistic contingency plans will be important in Europe and elsewhere to limit disease spread and the "bridgehead effect", where new introductions of a tree pathogen become increasingly likely as new environments are invaded, must be considered. Therefore, survey programs already implemented to limit the spread in Europe and that could be helpful for other EU countries are summarized in this review. These surveys include not only countries where pitch canker is present, such as Portugal and Spain, but also several other EU countries where F. circinatum is not present. Sampling protocols for seeds, seedlings, twigs, branches, shoots, soil samples, spore traps and insects from dierent studies are collated and compiled in this review. Likewise, methodology for morphological and molecular identification is herein presented. These include conventional PCR with a target-specific region located in the intergenic spacer region, as well as several real-time PCR protocols, with dierent levels of specificity and sensitivity. Finally, the global situation and future perspectives are addressed.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5461158
Slovenia is one of the most forested countries in Europe. Extreme weather events and globalisation are changing our forests, which is reflected also in outspread of numerous new invasive alien species. The emergence of a quarantine fungus in forests poses a unique challenge, since the suppression of the disease outbreak in forestry is extensive and difficult. The action involves cutting, proper handling of cut materials and disinfection of machinery and equipment. The implementation of measures is difficult because of demanding topography, and even more so, due to administrative barriers. In Slovenia, in 2016 we reported the finding of the quarantine fungus Lecanosticta acicola (sin. Scirrhia acicola) in natural stands and plantations of black pine in the Soča river valley. Damages to black pine have been increasing over the last years, and the death of adult trees has also been observed. Recent genetic analyses have shown that a population of the fungus, present in Soča river valley, is still present in a geographically limited area, and we suppose that the virulence of this population towards black pine is higher compared to other populations in the territory of Slovenia and Croatia. We propose the implementation of measures that would slow down the spread of the disease and the awareness rising campaign for the professional and general public.
COBISS.SI-ID: 5616806