You might have seen in the news in late August that a particularly transmissible and destructive virus affecting tomato, chilli and capsicum plants has just been detected in Australia for the first time. The virus is called the tomato brown rugose virus and it deforms and discolours fruit and affects leaves of plants. This virus is very easily spread through seeds, plants and between people working with plants. The potential impact of uncontrolled spread is very, very serious for Australian agriculture.
Photo credit: Luria et al., CC BY 4.0
The detection happened at commercial properties north of Adelaide and was purportedly brought into Australia on infected seed. Biosecurity authorities are investigating and have issued alerts. Canberra Seed Savers is very concerned about the potential of this virus to damage Australian crops and seed supplies and is being proactive to develop and put into practice controls around the swapping, sharing and donating of tomato, chilli and capsicum seeds through our network. We are monitoring and adhering to biosecurity authority advice. We are keen to play our part in keeping our agriculture safe for our community. We are continuously monitoring the situation and will continue to adapt our policies and practices throughout the season as needed to ensure we are doing our part for strong biosecurity.
For the harvest following this spring, pending advice from biosecurity authorities, we will be restricting the sources of donations for tomato, chilli and capscium seeds into our seed bank. This means taking a planned and careful approach. We will be identifying growers for these seeds in spring and these seed savers will be briefed about the virus, educated about the best seed and plant hygiene practices, asked to complete additional record-keeping and provide verification of the health of plants and fruit. Seeds donated to the seed bank will be traceable. We will unfortunately not be able to accept tomato, chilli or capsicum seed from unregistered donors from spring 2024 until further notice.
We will also be including education about the virus and what home growers can do to protect their own crops and others in our community in all of our workshops, on our website and in our socials. We always advocate good seed and plant hygiene. Here’s some tips:
- Get your seedlings and seeds from reliable suppliers
- Don’t save and grow seeds from store-bought produce, particularly not imported produce where the fruit may have been treated for various diseases, pest and viruses but the seeds have not been.
- Don’t bring seeds into Australia in contravention of bio-security regulations. Protecting our agricultural biosecurity is vitally important.
- Wash hands, keep tools clean.
- Remove and bin (don’t compost) any plants that are diseased, sick or have suspicious looking fruit. If you’re not sure, get some expert advice. Take a precautionary approach – it is better to lose a plant than to spread viruses, pests and diseases.
The Australian Government advises home gardeners to:
“Home gardeners are advised to:
- keep a regular eye out for unusual pests or disease in your garden and report anything unusual immediately to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881
- source local seed, seedlings and graft material that are free of the virus from a reliable supplier or nursery.” Source: www.outbreak.gov.au
More information about the virus can be found in the following articles (note the ABC article has some good pictures):
Tomato brown rugose fruit virus detected in Adelaide Plains crops – ABC News
Tomato brown rugose fruit virus | Outbreak
