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Potatoes Australia August/September 2016
for us to interact with growers
via the diagnostic fee-for-
service and let them know what
we’re doing and how we might
actually be able to work with
them to be able to do some
R&D,” Dr Constable said.
“For example, if we get a
positive result for a virus, we
know that Brittney would be
really interested in that as a
potential new strain that she can
work into her breeding program.
There is a lot of communication
with growers on the ground
about what we do and why we
do it – it’s really great.”
AgriBio also undertakes
activities such as Crop
Hygiene, which is an additional
biosecurity service.
“We work with various
industries including potatoes,
to introduce material into
tissue culture – high health
material that is maintained
sustainable, so industry sectors
receive great benefit from the
diagnostics service and that
money is used to support
staff on an ongoing basis
and ensures that the science
capability is there next year
when they want to conduct
further testing.”
For the potato industry, AgriBio
provides a fee-for-service for the
seed certification program.
“We have a number of
seed certification bodies as
clients for the facility and they
keep us very busy, particularly
between January to April,” Dr
Rodoni said.
“It’s not just seed certification
– there’s other sectors of the
potato industry that we do work
for. As a fee-for-service, we do
a lot of diagnostic testing at the
Australian border to support
quarantine. We test for a lot
of things, but for potatoes
it’s essentially around
Solanaceous seed.”
In the last 12 months, AgriBio
has tested approximately one
million tomato and capsicum
seeds for Potato spindle tuber
viroid (PSTVd).
“The whole purpose of that
is to stop PSTVd from getting
into the country and affecting
our potatoes. Even though
we’re not testing potatoes, it’s
a pathway to get to them,” Dr
Rodoni explained.
In encouraging news for
the industry, AgriBio also
communicates directly
with potato growers on a
regular basis.
“It’s a really good opportunity
as a resource by industry for
industry. It’s undergone a lot of
testing to ensure its high health
status and it’s there to support
industry,” Dr Constable said.
Potatoes Australia
will provide
regular updates on potato
research being conducted at
AgriBio in future editions.
AgriBio conducts a range of research, from high-end pre-
breeding programs to pest and disease management.
The greenhouse is just one of the many impressive
features in the state of the art AgriBio facility.
L-R: PhD student Brittney Caruana, who is
conducting potato research, and Dr Fiona Constable.
For more information,
please contact Senior Plant
Virologist Dr Fiona Constable
at fiona.constable@ecodev.
vic.gov.au.
This communication has
been funded by Horticulture
Innovation Australia Limited
using the Fresh Potato
Levy and funds from the
Australian Government.
Project Number: PT15007
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