Plant quarantine is vital to prevent the introduction of non-indigenous, potentially damaging pests and diseases of plants into a country or to eradicate them before they can become widespread and well established. Less-developed countries and other countries in transition are especially vulnerable to the damaging effects of exotic pest introductions because of often inadequate infrastructure and the fragility of their economies. The well-meaning importation of germplasm for agricultural development projects creates a further risk of introducing such quarantine pests. Without stronger phytosanitary services nations will be unable to participate in the liberalisation of world markets. Our work involves natural and social scientists from NRI and lawyers from the University's Law School

• Pest risk analysis including monitoring, forecasting and project planning to avoid quarantine problems;
• Legislative support for developing phytosanitary procedures;
• Project planning for germplasm importation and development;
• Advice and assistance in design of inspection and treatment facilities;
• Participation in global initiatives to replace ozone-layer damaging methyl bromide as fumigant
• Development of diagnostic methods for detection of pathogens appropriate for use under a wide range of conditions;
• Development of integrated diagnostic systems for a wide range of plant pathogens;
• Research and advice on control of storage pests and related aspects of post-harvest handling for export and marketing of produce;
• Training, education and institutional strengthening and support, including Master's level course Plant quarantine and sustainable resource management.

Staff

Dr Johnston Holt

Dr Susan Seal

Projects

Harmonisation of African Phytosanitary Legislation (O0121)

Technical Evaluation of African Fruit Fly Initiative (IFAD-funded project at ICIPE, Kenya) C1354

Institutional support for strengthening plant quarantine through improved management, legislation, decision making and diagnostics in Belize, Cyprus, China, St Helena, Vanuatu, Zanzibar (various T- and C-codes)

Phytosanitary aspects of a border crossing study between countries of Eastern and Central Europe (C0899)

Development and adaptation of molecular and biochemical techniques to detect and diagnose Ralstonia (Pseudomonas) solanacearum and other bacterial plant pathogens in vegetable crops, many of which are quarantine pests (in Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Malawi, Malaysia, Tanzania) (A0488)

Drafting of phytosanitary protocols and establishment and maintenance of phytosanitary controls for larger grain borer, in support of drought relief operations in Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique

Publications

Black, R. (2000). Can phytosanitary services in African countries meet the challenges of globalisation? Proceedings of the British Crop Protection Conference - Pests and Diseases 2000. pp 1167-1174.

Holt, J., Mushobozi, W.L., Tucker, M.R. & Venn, J. (2000) Modelling armyworm population dynamics to forecast outbreaks. Workshop on Research Priorities for Migrant Pests of Agriculture in Southern Africa, Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa, 24-26 March 1999. (R. A. Cheke, L. J. Rosenberg and M. Kieser eds.) Chatham, UK: Natural Resources Institute. pp 151-163.

Zhu, L-H., Holt, J. Black, R. (2000) New approaches to pest risk analysis for plant quarantine. Proceedings of the British Crop Protection Conference - Pests and Diseases 2000. pp 495 - 498.

Nath, P.D.,Kenyon, L., Bartolme, V.I., McLaren, G. and Azzam, O. (2000). Simple serological assays for detecting rice tungro viruses. Food and Agricultural Immunology 12: 139-153.

ZHANG, X-S. Holt, J. and Colvin, J. (2000) A general model of plant-virus disease infection to incorporate vector aggregation. Plant Pathology 49: 435-444.

Black, R., Seal, S., Z.Abubakar, R. Nono-Womdim & I. Swai (1999). Wilt pathogens of Solanaceae in Tanzania: Clavibacter michiganensis pv. michiganensis, Pseudomonas corrugata, and Ralstonia solanacearum. Plant Disease 83: 1070.

Thwaites, R, Eden-Green, S.-J., & Black, R. (1999). Diseases caused by bacteria. In: Diseases of Banana, Abacá and Enst (ed. D.R. Jones), 213-239. Wallingford: CAB International.

Black, R., Zakia Abubakar, Seal., S. & Phiri, N. (1998). Adaptation of technology for diagnosis and detection of Ralstonia solanacearum in Malawi and Tanzania. In: Bacterial Wilt Disease (ed. Prior, Allen & Elphinstone). 110-115 Berlin: Springer.

Black, R. Elphinstone, J.(1998). Developing detection methods appropriate to developing countries. In: Bacterial Wilt Disease (ed. Prior, Allen & Elphinstone) 123-127. Berlin: Springer.

Turner, H.C. & Black, R. (1998). Rice leaf scald: pathogen biology and diversity. In: Major Fungal Diseases of Rice (eds. S. Sreenivasprasad & R. Johnson). Amsterdam: Kluwer (in press)

Roshan Abdallah & Black, R. (1998). Safe Movement of Germplasm Between Countries. In: Conservation and Utilization of African Plants (eds. R.P. Adams & J.E. Adams) 223-228. St Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden Press.

Jeger, M.J., van den Bosch, F., Madden, L.V. and Holt, J. (1998) A model for analysing plant-virus transmission characteristics and epidemic development. IMA Journal of Mathematics Applied in Medicine and Biology 15: 1-18.

Kenyon, L., Henríquez, N.P., Harrison, N.A. (1998). Diagnosis and detection of phytoplasma diseases of tropical crops. Proceedings British Crop Protection Conference Pests and Diseases 1998 3: 779- 787

SMITH, M.C., Holt, J.,Kenyon, L., Foot, C. (1998). Quantitative epidemiology of banana bunchy top virus disease and its control. Plant Pathology 47: 177-187

Henríquez N.P.,Kenyon,L. Quiroz, L. (1998). Corn stunt complex mollicutes in Belize. Plant Disease 83: 77

Kenyon, L., Harrison, N. A., Richardson, P. A. (1998). Gliricidia Little Leaf Disease in Costa Rica. Plant Disease 83: 77

Kenyon, L., Harrison, N.A., Ashbourne, G.R., Boa, E,R,, Richardson, P.A. (1998), 'Detection of a pigeon pea witches'-brown-related phytoplasma in trees of Gliricidia sepium affected by little-leaf disease in Central America', Plant Pathology 47 (5): 671-680.

Boa, ER.,Kenyon, L., Jordan, T. Gliricidia little-leaf disease symptom development and assesment. In: Preparation for Plant Pathology

Seal S. (1998). Molecular methods for detection and discrimination of Ralstonia solanacearum. In: Prior P, Allen C, Elphinstone J, eds. Bacterial wilt disease, molecular and ecological aspects. Springer-Verlag/INRA editions, 103-109.

Gibson RW, Mpembe I, Alicai T, Carey EE, Mwanga ROM, Seal SE, & Wetten HJ (1998). Symptoms, aetiology and serological analysis of sweet potato virus disease in Uganda. Plant Pathology 47:, 95-102.

Black, R., Zakia Abubakar, Seal., S. & Phiri, N. (1998). Adaptation of technology for diagnosis and detection of Ralstonia solanacearum in Malawi and Tanzania. In: Prior P, Allen C, Elphinstone J, eds. Bacterial wilt disease, molecular and ecological aspects. Springer-Verlag/INRA editions, 111-115.

Thwaites, R., Eden-Green, S., Mansfield, J., Seal, S. (1998). Studies on the molecular basis for pathogenicity and host specficity in strains of Ralstonia solanacearum pathogenic to banana. In: Bacterial Wilt Disease (ed. Prior, Allen & Elphinstone), 192-194. Berlin: Springer.

Seal S. (1998). Chair's perspective on Diagnosis of Ralstonia solanacearum. In: Prior P, Allen C, Elphinstone J, eds. Bacterial wilt disease, molecular and ecological aspects. Springer-Verlag/INRA editions, 101-102.

Seal S. and Coates D. (1998) "Detection and quantification of plant viruses by PCR". In Methods in Molecular Biology 81: "Plant Virology protocols: From Virus Isolation to Transgenic Resistance" (eds. G. Foster and S. Taylor), Humana Press Inc, Totowa, NJ. 469-485.

Kenyon, L., Brown, M.; Khonje, P. (1997) First report of Banana Bunchytop Virus in Malawi. Plant Disease 81: 1096.

Seal S. (1997) Cost analysis and detection of bacteria and phytoplasmas in plant tissue cultures by PCR. p123-130 In Pathogen and Microbial Contamination Management in micropropagation (A.C. Cassells ed.) 12: Developments in Plant Pathology. Kluwer Academic press 370 pp.

Mumford R. A., and Seal SE (1997) Rapid single-tube immunocapture RT-PCR for the detection of two yam potyviruses. Journal of Virological Methods 69: 73-79

Badge, JL, Adams M, Antoniw J, Brunt AA, Carson R, Dagless E, Kashiwazaki, Karamagioli M, Lock S, Phillips S, Seal S., Turner R., Foster GD. (1997). PCR primers for the rapid identification of carlaviruses, bymoviruses and macluraviruses. Journal of Experimental Botany 48: 18.

Black, R., Holt, J. & Sweetmore, A (1996) BACTID - Bacteriological identification system for resource-poor plant pathology laboratories. Chatham: Natural Resources Institute.

Asher, R., Ben-Ze'ev, I.S. & Black, R. (1996). Plant clinics in developing countries. Annual Review of Phytopathology 34: 51-66.

Black, R., Seal, & Robinson-Smith, A. (1996). Detection and identification of Pseudomonas solanacearum and other plant pathogenic bacteria in less-developed countries. BCPC Symposium Proceedings No. 65: Diagnosis in Crop Production. Farnham: British Crop Protection Council.

Black, R. (1996). The role of plant quarantine in integrated pest management. Procs. 2nd Scientific Conference, Tanzania Entomological Association, Arusha, Tanzania, 24-26 September 1996.

Holt, J., Chancellor, T.C.B. Reynolds, D.R., and Tiongco, E.R. (1996) Risk assessment for rice planthopper & tungro disease outbreaks. Crop Protection 15: 359-368.

Seal SE. (1996) Molecular diagnosis of plant pathogenic prokaryotes in the tropics. Pages 56-570, In Proceedings of the Brighton Crop protection Conference on Pests and Diseases, Brighton, 18-21 November 1996.

Black R., Seal S. and Robinson-Smith A.(1996) Detection and identification of Pseudomonas solanacearum and other plant-pathogenic bacteria in less-developed countries. Proceedings of the BCPC conference on diagnostics in crop production, Warwick, 1-3 April 1996 (Ed. G. Marshall)