Production nurseries are encouraged to attend a webinar on exotic leafminers that will be held on Thursday, 16 July 2020, to provide growers with an update on incursion risk, impact, surveillance procedures and management options if incursion occurs.
This webinar forms part of the levy funded ‘Research, Development and Extension program for control, eradication and preparedness of vegetable leafminer’ (MT16004) project, which is led by cesar with support from project partners Plant Health Australia, the University of Melbourne, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) and AUSVEG.
This webinar will focus on three leafminer species that pose significant risk to various horticultural industries: the vegetable leafminer (Liriomyza sativae), potato leafminer (Liriomyza huidobrensis) and American serpentine leafminer (Liriomyza trifolii).
While the vegetable leafminer was found on the mainland of Australia on the Cape York Peninsula in 2015, the potato and American serpentine leafminer are not yet present in Australia.
Although these species are exotic at present, many local nursery production regions in Australia have climatic conditions similar to locations overseas where it has established and spread.
If incursion of exotic leafminers and spread of these pests occurs, the impact on the nursery industry could be significant; reducing the plant’s market value and creating stricter domestic trade restrictions in areas of Australia where the pest is absent.
This webinar is the latest in a series, developed to equip growers with the information and skills to prepare for and protect against the spread of these pests throughout Australia’s key growing regions.
See below for more information.
Webinar details
- Date: Thursday, 16 July 2020
- Time: 4:00pm – 5:00pm AEST
- Register via https://tinyurl.com/yd9x8kug
To access previous webinars developed by the project team for the horticultural sector, head to: ausveg.com.au/biosecurity-agrichemical/biosecurity/factsheets-templates-webinars/#webinars.
Recent research through MT16004 has also explored the impact of leafminers on Australia’s nursery and vegetable production industries and where parasitoid wasps could contribute to controlling the pest. For more on this, head to: yourlevyatwork.com.au/lowering-the-risk-of-vegetable-leafminer/
The ‘Research, Development and Extension program for control, eradication and preparedness of vegetable leafminer’ (MT16004) project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable, nursery, melon, and potato research and development levies and contributions from the Australian Government.