NEW BORDER MEASURES FOR PELLETED AND BETA VULGARIS SEEDS FOR SOWING

Transcription

1 NEW BORDER MEASURES FOR PELLETED AND BETA VULGARIS SEEDS FOR SOWING The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is responsible for setting the import measures that must be met when importing seeds and live plant material into New Zealand. The import measures are put in place to prevent the entry of new pests and diseases that may threaten New Zealand's environment, economy, or human health. MPI now require specific measures to be applied to effectively manage the risk of weed seeds in imported pelleted seeds and Beta vulgaris from all countries. These measures have been put in place urgently, under section 104(1) of the Biosecurity Act 1993 following the detection of the weed Abutilon theophrasti (velvetleaf) in the New Zealand environment. The source of the weed was contaminated pelleted fodder beet seed (Beta vulgaris) imported from Denmark, but produced in Italy. These measures came into effect in July 2016 and all commercial importers of pelleted seeds and Beta vulgaris and members of the public are required to comply with the new measures. Some background information about velvetleaf and a summary of the new import measures are included below. What is Abutilon theophrasti? Abutilon theophrasti velvetleaf (VL) is an Unwanted Organism under the Biosecurity Act, and import into New Zealand is prohibited. VL is originally from China and India and has become a weed in different countries of North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Velvetleaf has been in New Zealand since 1948, however distribution reports have been sporadic until recently. Since 2010 there have been reports from farms in the Auckland and Waikato regions. In February 2016, VL was found on a small number of farms in the South Island, originating from imported fodder beet seed. Since then it has been found in a growing number of properties across the South and North Island. VL can decrease the yield in soybean fields by up to 37% and 34% in maize crops. The weed causes serious economic damage to agricultural production, particularly maize, soybeans and cotton, as well as beans, tobacco, alfalfa, peanuts and sugar beet. It has the ability to compete for light and water with the crop and releases allelochemicals that reduce growth and emergence of neighbouring plants. What are the changes to the import requirements? Seeds for sowing: pelleted seeds from all countries The risk of entry of regulated (quarantine) weed seeds in imported pelleted seed consignments has been categorised into three groups based on the likelihood of contaminant seeds being present in a seed lot and the likelihood of establishment in New

2 Zealand. MPI will take the approach that for all species identified as belonging to each group, a set of measures will be applied directly related to the risk posed to the New Zealand environment. The likelihood of entry and establishment depends upon the species of plant, the production systems used to produce the seed and the site and scale of planting. For instance, breeder s seed, greenhouse produced seed, and inbred parent lines are considered to present a lower risk for the entry of agricultural weed species is considered to be lower in comparison to broad acre crop and field crop seed production. The Import & Export (Plants) Group have recommended that lower risk species be deferred from testing to allow time to collect more information about production systems and enable resources to be targeted to the groups of higher immediate concern. Species determined as belonging to Risk Group 3 (Flower and greenhouse crops) will not be tested at present. Risk Group 2 represents an intermediate level of risk, generally field crops whose seed production systems are likely to be field based. These species will be inspected and audittested (at the ratio of 1:10 imported lots) for unwanted organisms and /or regulated (quarantine) weed seeds, at the expense of the importer. Data collected from these audit tests will be used as evidence for a further review of this pathway. For the species determined be in the highest risk category, Risk Group 1 (Arable crops), every lot will continue to be inspected and tested for unwanted organisms and /or regulated (quarantine) weed seeds, at the expense of the importer as per the specific measures for pelleted seeds listed below. These measures will be in place until MPI has determined the permanent measures to apply to all pelleted seed lots imported into New Zealand.

3 Pelleted Beta vulgaris seed lots from France and all other countries The specific measures are: 1. All non-pelleted Beta vulgaris seed lots imported into New Zealand will resume normal procedures for inspection and Biosecurity Clearance. 2. All individual lots of pelleted Beta vulgaris seed grown in France, accompanied by an officially drawn bare sample, drawn according to ISTA methodology and sealed, will have this bare seed sample further reduced to a 500g laboratory sample and sent for seed analysis at an MPI approved laboratory at the importers expense. All remaining bare seed must be kept by an MPI transitional facility for six months, should further analysis be necessary. 3. Individual lots of pelleted Beta vulgaris seed grown in France, will require a 1,000g sample of pelleted seeds to be drawn according to ISTA methodology and sent for seed analysis at a MPI approved laboratory at the importers expense. 4. This direction is being put in place to refine the current interim measures in place for pelleted fodder beet, achieving 95% confidence that foreign seeds present in the lot at levels of 0.01% will be detected by this sampling regime. Pelleted Beta vulgaris seed lots from Italy The specific measures are: 1. Individual lots of pelleted Beta vulgaris seed grown in Italy, accompanied by an officially drawn bare sample, drawn according to ISTA methodology and sealed, will have this bare seed sample further reduced to a 1,000 g laboratory sample to be sent for seed analysis at an MPI approved laboratory at the importers expense. All remaining bare seed must be kept by an MPI transitional facility, should further analysis be necessary. 2. Individual lots of pelleted Beta vulgaris seed grown in Italy, will be sampled 2,000g of pelleted seed be directed to an MPI approved seed lab at the importers expense. 3. This direction is being put in place to refine the current interim measures in place for fodder beet seed, achieving 99% confidence that foreign seeds present in the lot at levels of 0.01% will be detected by this sampling regime.

4 Pelleted seed lots (all species except Beta vulgaris) from all countries The specific measures are: 1. All lots of species belonging to Risk group 1 (see Appendix 1) must be sampled using the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) methodology and a representative sample will be sent for seed analysis at an MPI approved laboratory at the importers expenses according to the following specific measures: 2. The consignment will be moved into a MPI approved transitional facility where it will be held pending the return of the laboratory results; 3. A representative sample of seeds will be taken from each lot using the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) methodology; For seed lot (s) of 50 kg or greater, a representative sample of 5 kilograms will be drawn per lot and sent for analysis. For seed lot (s) less than 50kg, 10% of the total size of the lot will be sampled and sent for analysis. 4. All samples will be sent to an MPI accredited seed laboratory for testing for the presence of regulated seeds; 5. The consignment will only receive biosecurity clearance if the laboratory results are negative and the consignment is considered free from regulated seeds. 6. All lots of seed species belonging to Risk Group 2 must be sampled and audit tested at the ratio of 1:10 using the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) methodology and a representative sample will be sent for testing and seed analysis at a MPI approved laboratory at the importers expense as described above. 7. All lots of seed species belonging to Risk Group 3 must be recorded in Quancargo. Testing is deferred until further assessment is completed by MPI to enable effective resourcing at the border. 8. All lots of other pelleted seeds from species not listed under any of the risk groups specified here require a NCR (non-compliance report) to be sent to the plant imports mail box for further advice on the appropriate risk grouping and course of action.

5 APPENDIX 1 Botanical names as listed on the Plant Biosecurity Index (PBI) Group 3 Greenhouse crops Group 2 Vegetable crops Group 1 Arable crops and species requiring inspection at the lab Lactuca sativa Allium cepa Cichorium endivia Solanum lycopersicum Allium porrum Daucus carota Group 3 Flowers Apium graveolens Ageratum houstonianum Brassica napus Anethum graveolens Brassica oleracea Antirrhinum sp. Foeniculum vulgare Angelonia salicariifolia Pastinacea sativa Begonia sp. Spinacia oleracea Bellis perennis Cichorium intybus Calceolaria sp. Calibrachoa hybrida Campanula sp. Celosia sp. Chaenorhinum sp. Cineraria maritima (= Senecio cineraria) Chrysanthemum sp Dianthus sp. Diascia barberae Dichondra sp. Digitalis sp. Exacum affine Eruca sativa Gazania sp. Geranium sp. Gerbera jamesoni Gloxinia speciosa (= Sinningia speciosa) Gypsophila sp. Helichrysum sp. Heuchera sp. Isolepis sp. Juncus sp. Laurentia axillaris (= Isotoma axillaris) Linaria sp. Lisianthus russellianus (= Eustoma grandiflorum) Lobelia sp. Lobularia maritima

6 Mimulus sp. Nemesia sp. Nicotiana sp. Ocimum basilicum Origanum vulgare Papaver sp. Pentas sp. Pericallis hybrida (= Pericallis xhybrida) Petroselinum crispum Petunia sp. Portulaca sp. Primula sp. Pyrethrum sp. Ranunculus sp. Rosmarinus officinalis Rudbeckia sp. Salpiglossis sinuata Salvia officinalis Saxifraga sp. Senecio cruentus (= Pericallis cruenta) Silene sp. Solenostemon scutellarioides Streptocarpus sp. Sutera sp. Tagetes sp. Tanacetum parthenium Thymus vulgaris Torenia fournieri Trachelium caeruleum Verbascum sp. Verbena sp. Veronica sp. Viola sp. Zinnia sp.