EPPO Bulletin最新文献

Specific scope: This Standard describes the conduct of trials for the efficacy evaluation of mating disruption techniques using synthetic sexual pheromones to control Lepidoptera species in vegetable and ornamental crops under protected conditions. The term ‘protected conditions’ in this Standard refers to greenhouses and high semi-open structures, such as walk-in tunnels. The Standard should be read in conjunction with the general principles described in PP 1/264 Principles of efficacy evaluation for mating disruption pheromones and in PP 1/296 Principles of efficacy evaluation for low-risk plant protection products.

Specific approval and amendment: First approved in 2024–09.

The results should be reported in a systematic form and the report should include an analysis and evaluation. Original (raw) data should be available. Statistical analysis should normally be used, by appropriate methods which should be indicated. If statistical analysis is not used, this should be justified. See EPPO Standard PP 1/152 Design and analysis of efficacy evaluation trials.

Specific scope: This Standard describes the control procedures aiming to monitor, contain, and eradicate Solanum carolinense.

Specific approval and amendment: First approved in 2024–09.

Solanum carolinense (Solanaceae) is a perennial herb native to North America (Wahlert et al., 2015). The species has several weedy attributes (e.g., reproduces vegetatively, rapid growth, prolific seed production, grows in a variety of biotic and abiotic conditions) (Bassett & Munro, 1986). The species was introduced into the EPPO region most likely in the middle of the 20th century.

Solanum carolinense is regarded to be a major agricultural problem. It is a common weed in many crops and pastures and affects crop yield and quality (Follak, 2020; Van Wychen, 2020), it is considered toxic to livestock (Bassett & Munro, 1986) and a host to many crop diseases and pests (Wahlert et al., 2015).

In the EPPO region, S. carolinense occurs in different habitats including banks of major rivers (e.g. the Waal; Dirkse et al., 2007), ruderal habitats (e.g. roadsides, port areas; Pérez et al., 2020), pastures and crop fields (Follak, 2020; Klingenhagen et al., 2012). The spread of S. carolinense is largely driven by human activities. Propagules of S. carolinense can be spread by agricultural machinery with contaminated soil attached both within fields and from field-to-field. Additionally, management and/or construction works in habitats that act as corridors for spread (e.g. roadsides) may facilitate the spread of the species (Follak, 2020; Wehtje et al., 1987). The establishment of S. carolinense by root fragments is assumed to be very successful, as the species can grow vegetatively from very small fragments (Ilnicki & Fertig, 1962; Miyazaki, 2008).

In 2022, S. carolinense was added to the EPPO A2 List of pests recommended for regulation as quarantine pests (EPPO, 2022a). The species is regulated by a number of EPPO countries (EPPO, 2022b), such as Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan (all A1 List) as well as in Belarus and Israel (Quarantine pest) and Georgia (A2 List).

Further information on the biology, distribution and economic importance of Solanum carolinense can be found in Wahlert et al. (2015) and EPPO (2022b).

EPPO member countries at risk are advised to prepare monitoring activities and a contingency plan for the eradication and containment of this pest.

Regional cooperation is important, and it is recommended that countries should communicate with their neighbours to exchange views on the best programme to implement, in order to achieve the regional goal of preventing fur

Specific scope: This Standard provides an application form and guidelines to support an application for the import and/or release of a non-indigenous biological control agent (BCA). The Standard does not concern BCAs that are indigenous1 to the area of release. The Standard applies to invertebrate BCAs used for augmentative and/or classical biological control, and micro-organisms used for classical biological control.2

Specific approval and amendment: First version approved in 2000–09. Revision approved in 2010–09. Second revision approved in 2014–09. Third revision approved in 2024–09.

Before non-indigenous biological control agents (BCAs) are introduced into a country, an assessment of their potential risks to agricultural and natural ecosystems should be carried out. This assessment is informed by a period of research on the BCA concerned. In cases where the research is performed in the country where the BCA is intended to be released, the first import of the BCA for research should be carried out following the notification procedure of the EPPO Standard PM 6/1(2) First import of non-indigenous biological control agents for research under confined conditions (EPPO, 2023). A BCA may also be released directly following import, in cases where the required research and mass rearing have been carried out in another country, and the conclusion of the research is that BCA constitute no risk to agricultural and natural ecosystems. The present Standard is mainly concerned with the release of BCAs after research and mass rearing have been completed.

If the BCA is released for classical biological control, it is intended to establish and control one or more pests, possibly permanently. If the BCA is used for augmentative biological control, it is not intended to establish but is periodically introduced into a specific environment to suppress pest populations. For both classical and augmentative biological control, there is the potential for the BCA to cause undesirable consequences which may be irreversible, such as long-term negative impacts on non-target species. It is therefore necessary to carry out an assessment of a BCA's risk (focusing on plant health and the environment) prior to release, while taking into consideration the benefits.

ISPM 3 (Guidelines for the export, shipment, import and release of biological control agents and other beneficial organisms, IPPC, 2005) states that Governments should designate a National Authority responsible for its implementation. For the purpose of import and release of non-indigenous BCAs, the National Authority should establish an appropriate official procedure. Each country should decide what type of administrative system is appropriate (notification, approval or authorization), taking into account official policies in support of biological control and at the same time ensuring safety for agricultural and natural ec

Specific scope: This Standard describes the validation, verification, and calibration of digital technologies that may be used to assess the efficacy of plant protection products (PPP). Currently, efficacy data are collected through human observation or other documented methods of assessment in the Good Experimental Practice (GEP) system as described in PP 1/181 Conduct and reporting of efficacy evaluation trials, including good experimental practice.1

Hardware or sensors which directly produce a measurement (e.g. scales for weighing, thermometers) are out of the scope of this Standard, as their verification and calibration are already covered in the GEP system. New technologies with parameters that are currently not covered by EPPO PP1 Standards are also out of this scope but could be covered in future by specific EPPO Standards.

Specific approval and amendment: First approved in 2024–09.

The development and integration of digital technology is growing across a wide range of industries including agriculture. In crop protection and plant phenotyping, digital technologies are already well established in research and at grower level. Usage of digital technology for the assessment of the efficacy of plant protection products is also rapidly increasing.

This Standard focuses on how digital technologies used in efficacy trials can be accepted within GEP systems and by regulators. The Standard also includes processes to validate, verify, and calibrate digital technologies, relevant for the GEP system.

When used in efficacy evaluation trials, digital technologies should produce an outcome which is comparable to the data being currently collected by human observation or by other methods currently accepted in the GEP system. The data obtained by human observation which are used as comparisons to validate or verify data obtained by digital technologies can be referred to as reference values (sometimes referred to as ‘ground truth’). Reference value data enables validation of algorithms in the development stage and verification of digital technology during use.

As described in PP 1/152 Design and analysis of evaluation of trials, the qualities to be considered in observations for efficacy evaluations are: accuracy, reliability, precision, sensitivity, repeatability and reproducibility. These qualities should also be considered in the evaluation of digital technologies used in the GEP system.

Validation is a crucial process which serves to develop and assess the accuracy and reliability of the digital technology and to define the specification of any hardware required to generate the data for the algorithm, model or software. Validation is the first step of the digital technology conducted under development conditions to show that it works for the intended use.

The validation process should use a known or pre-defined dataset or samples and compare the results from the digital tech

The European Union (EU) regulation for fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) was modified in 2022, and the broad ‘non-European Tephritidae’ group was replaced by a list of 75 regulated taxa (66 species and nine genera). The National Reference Laboratories in the EU must now be able to identify all of them, whatever the development stage, in order to carry out official surveillance. To help laboratories, the European Union Reference Laboratory for Insects and Mites developed an interactive and multi-entry online key called Q-Tephrikey. The key is now freely available on the XPer3 website. It covers a total of 113 tephritid taxa, encompassing the regulated ones, 12 species listed as non-regulated exceptions and the species that have been intercepted in Europe. The taxa are encoded in two morphological matrices for adults and for larvae. This latter one is less extensive because only 38 species among the 113 taxa are described at the larval stage. To help the diagnosticians, the morphological matrices are accompanied by a pathway matrix encoded for the distributions and host ranges of each taxon. We present here the detailed content and functioning of Q-Tephrikey, and discuss its strengths and weaknesses in terms of its objectives. The key is available at https://q-tephrikey.identificationkey.org/mkey.html.

Xylella fastidiosa has been identified as the causal agent of several horticultural plant diseases that have resulted in major economic and cultural heritage losses. In the last decade, X. fastidiosa emerged as a destructive phytopathogen on olive trees in the Apulia region, Italy, prompting widespread surveillance throughout the Mediterranean basin. The present paper reports monitoring efforts for X. fastidiosa in Palestine on olive for 5 years (2017–2022) and 1 year (2022) on stone fruit trees, as a result of international collaboration projects. No signs of olive quick decline syndrome were observed on olive trees in all the Palestinian olive-growing lands. This observation was confirmed by molecular tests using LAMP technology and PCR. In addition, 500 leaf samples from stone fruit trees (almond, apricot, peach, nectarine and plum) were tested using LAMP and PCR. All of these samples were negative for X. fastidiosa, even though few of the samples from almond trees in Idna (Hebron governorate) and apricot trees in Bal'a (Tulkarm governorate) showed leaf scorch-like symptoms. This study provides confirmation that these important horticultural crops in Palestine (olive and stone fruits) are still free of X. fastidiosa. Preventive measures and surveillance of these and other horticultural crops such as grapevine and citrus trees are strongly recommended.