| Black stem rust regulations |
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| Introduction |
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Black stem rust (BSR), Puccinia graminis f sp. tritici, is a significant fungal disease on small grain crops of wheat, oats, barley and rye. BSR reduces the quality and yield of infected plants by robbing them of food and water. The fungus also lives on a variety of alternate host plants that are species of the genera Berberis, Mahoberberis, and Mahonia.
In the early 1900’s, black stem rust started causing devastating epidemics on wheat in the Midwest. In an effort to control the disease, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) coordinated a barberry eradication program. Barberry plants found growing in hedgerows and in the wild were removed and destroyed in important wheat producing states. This eradication program continued until 1981. A BSR quarantine and regulations covering the lower 48 states and the District of Columbia was also established to govern the interstate movement of certain plants of the genera Berberis, Mahoberberis, and Mahonia. Species of these plants are categorized as either rust resistant or rust susceptible. In addition to the federal quarantine, the USDA and Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) developed a Barberry Certification Program (BCP) in 2003 to allow for the safe production and shipment into Canada of listed Berberis thunbergii clones that have been determined to be resistant to black stem rust.
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| Regulations |
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The black stem rust federal quarantine 7CFR 301.38 outlines the procedures to govern the movement of Berberis, Mahoberberis, and Mahonia from regulated and nonregulated states within, into and through protected states. Only rust resistant clones on a list with a description of the variety that can be used to clearly identify and distinguish it from others are allowed. Nurseries must sign a compliance agreement in order to propagate and sell rust resistant cultivars. The nursery is assigned an identification number that is affixed to a label on the plants. The label includes the state, year of propagation, nursery of propagation, and field of propagation when applicable. Plants must be clonally propagated and records on propagation history must be kept for five years. Nurseries wishing to ship into Canada must sign a compliance agreement with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and follow the guidelines established in the barberry compliance agreement. A phytosanitary certificate is required listing the botanical and cultivar names of all plants of Berberis thunbergii in the shipment and the nursery of origin. In addition, an import permit is also required. The material must be produced from approved parent material by clonal propagation only and labeled with the botanical and cultivar name and the plant’s identification number. The identification number includes the abbreviated letters of the country of origin, state of propagation, year of propagation, nursery of propagation and the field of propagation if applicable.
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