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Composting to sanitize plant‐based waste infected with organisms of plant health importance
Author(s) -
Kerins G.,
Blackburn J.,
Nixon T.,
Daly M.,
Conyers C.,
Pietravalle S.,
Noble R.,
Henry C. M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plant pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.928
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1365-3059
pISSN - 0032-0862
DOI - 10.1111/ppa.12729
Subject(s) - potato spindle tuber viroid , viroid , biology , compost , sugar beet , bioassay , microbiology and biotechnology , organism , plant disease , quarantine , horticulture , plant virus , agronomy , virus , virology , ecology , paleontology
The potential for using the composting process to sanitize plant waste infected with one of three plant pathogens was investigated using bench‐scale composting equipment. Two of these pathogens, the potato wart disease fungus Synchytrium endobioticum and Potato spindle tuber viroid ( PSTV d) are currently subject to European quarantine regulations. The third, Polymyxa betae , a parasite of sugar beet, is regulated in some European countries when in association with Beet necrotic yellow vein virus ( BNYVV ), the causal organism of rhizomania disease of sugar beet. Survival of test organisms following various combinations of compost temperature, exposure time and moisture was determined using RNA ‐based detection methodology and/or plant‐based bioassays. Mathematically definable relationships between compost treatment (temperature/time) and organism viability were identified for P. betae and S. endobioticum ; these give some indication of the practicality of using composting for dealing with infected wastes. However, for PSTV d, the considerable variability in measured susceptibility of the viroid to the composting process meant that no such definable relationship could be determined and further work would be needed to extrapolate to practical situations.