Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The NRSP-005 annual meeting was held at Washington State University, Prosser on April 22, 2008.

The meeting convened at 8:30 am.

In attendance were:
Western Region
Administrative Advisor: Ralph Cavalieri, Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA
Technical Representative: Adib Rowhani, Univ. of California, Davis, CA
North Central Region
Administrative Advisor: Marc Linit, Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Technical Representative: Patricia McManus, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Southern Region
Administrative Advisor: Reuben Moore, Mississippi State Univ., Starkville, MS
Technical Representative: Simon Scott, Clemson Univ, Clemson, SC
NRSP5 Administration
Director: Ken Eastwell, NRSP5/Washington State Univ., Prosser, WA
Manager: Bill Howell, NRSP5/ Washington State Univ., Prosser, WA
USDA Representatives
Margarita Licha, USDA/APHIS/PPQ/PSPI, Beltsville, MD
State Departments of Agriculture
Lauri Guerra, Plant Protection Division, Washington State Department of Agriculture, Prosser, WA

NRSP5 Committee members absent: Tom Bewick, Tom Burr, Marc Fuchs, Amy Iezzoni and Curt Rom.

Simon Scott was appointed Chair, and Patty McManus was appointed Secretary.

Minutes of the 2007 meeting were previously approved by e-mail vote of technical representatives of the committee.

Ken Eastwell reminded those in attendance that this is the last year in which NRSP-005 is currently authorized. A request for an extension was submitted that is dependent on the outcome of the Farm Bill, which contains language to approve the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN). If funding becomes available through the NCPN in a timely manner, the requested extension of NRSP funding will be withdrawn.

Service activities of NRSP-5. Bill Howell reviewed activities, including those that directly benefited Land Grant Universities, for the period of July 1, 2007 through April 18, 2008. There were five main activities summarized in a handout:
1. Rescuing the Michigan State University peach breeding program after the discovery of Plum Pox Virus at an MSU research station.
2. Assisting USDA-APHIS-PPQ by providing thermal therapy to virus-infected clones.
3. Redesigning the virus therapy chambers at the Prosser station to improve efficiency of thermal therapy.
4. Distribution of over 17,700 virus-tested buds to researchers and industry.
5. Virus testing and therapy of 185 new acquisitions of stone and pome fruit cultivars from nine foreign countries and eight U.S. states.

Research activities of NRSP-5. Ken Eastwell reviewed activities. The current system relies heavily on woody indicator plants in the greenhouse that are expensive to produce and maintain. A goal of the research program has been to develop lab-based methods that could be used to reduce the size of the greenhouse woody indexing component of the program. Four areas towards accomplishing this goal were reported:
1. Evaluation of solid phase extraction processes for isolating pathogen RNA from fruit tree samples.
2. Improved serological assays for viruses that cause little cherry disease. Little cherry virus 1 causes mild symptoms on indicators and can easily be overlooked. The research program has developed serological detection and improved RT-PCR primers for this pathogen. RT-PCR assays exist for Little cherry virus 2, but the program has not yet succeeded in developing monoclonal antibodies.
3. PCR detection of Xyllela was optimized. Samples and isolates have come from Simon Scott. The next step will be to validate the method with a wide range of isolates.
4. Development of techniques for detecting Foveaviruses. Characterization continues of local isolates of Foveaviruses including, Cherry necrotic rusty mottle virus, Cherry rusty mottle virus, Montmorency stem pitting virus, and Cherry twisted leaf virus. Several additional distinct isolates are under investigation in Chelan County. These viruses are being subjected to genetic analysis to aid in development of broad-spectrum molecular and serological assays.

Hop Stunt Viroid was discovered in OR and WA, and the hop industry has provided ca. $250,000 for equipment to automate extraction, detection and identification of the pathogens. NRSP-005 can capitalize on availability of these facilities.

National Clean Plant Network. Ken Eastwell reviewed the history of efforts to develop NCPN and how this might replace NRSP-5 in the future. Efforts started in about 2001. The Plum pox virus outbreak in Pennsylvania highlighted the need for redundancy in clean plant programs and sources. The NCPN is embedded in the pending Farm Bill, and mandatory funding is specified. Eastwell reviewed the proposed structure of NCPN and referred to a handout entitled "Strategic Implementation Plan for the NCPN."

Comments from Administrative Advisors:
Marc Linit, North Central Region. NC directors met earlier this year in Las Vegas. There's no question that the work of NRSP-5 is of high quality and needed. But the NC directors have questioned whether the program is truly national, or more for the benefit of certain states. They have suggested that industry be more supportive of the program. The NC directors hope that NCPN will succeed in supplanting NRSP-5, but they did vote to support the 1-year extension of the NRSP-5 budget.

Reuben Moore, Southern Region. The environment in which the experiment station directors are working has hurt NRSP-5. They get so many requests that they have to look for programs to drop. The feeling is that this program may have never been appropriate for an NRSP.

Ralph Cavalieri, Western Region. The WR directors support the funding recommendations unanimously. If NCPN is funded through the Farm Bill, then they will decline future funding of NRSP-5.

Budget request:
Ken Eastwell led the discussion of the current submission to the NRSP committee for an extension until the funds from the NCPN can be made available. The required submission is based an maintaining the status quo and still reflects less than adequate funding for optimal program operation.

Facilities review:
The advisory committee was given a tour of all of the components of the program at WSU-Prosser that are required for NRSP-005 operations including the research laboratories, the WSU ELISA Testing Service Center, the greenhouse and screenhouse facilities, the growth chambers for heat therapy, and the orchard operations that are needed to support the greenhouse and laboratory programs.

Nursery operations:
The group visited a nursery operation (E.W. Brandt and Sons and associated companies) that represents a full spectrum of activities from nursery stock production and distribution to fruit production. Rapid access to new varieties and the ability to distribute virus-tested clones internationally were emphasized as important points of the contemporary global fruit tree industry.

The meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.

1. Rescuing a Breeding Program: NRSP-005 saved many advanced selections from Michigan State University's peach breeding program from a plum pox virus (PPV) imposed quarantine. In an arrangement negotiated with USDA-APHIS-PPQ, prior to the destruction of all trees in the breeding program, budsticks from 58 more advanced peach selections were sent to NRSP-005 for virus screening and propagation in the greenhouses located at WSU-Prosser. Tests for plum pox and other viruses were conducted on the submitted budwood in 2007 and on the propagated trees in 2007 and 2008. No plum pox virus was detected in any of 10 tests conducted for the virus. Budwood will now be sent back to MSU this summer for re-establishment in an area distant from the PPV quarantine area.

2. Assisting USDA-APHIS-PPQ: The USDA-APHIS-PPQ facility in Beltsville, MD, receives imported clones of deciduous fruit trees to secure new germplasm for plant breeders in the country. NRSP-005 assisted in that effort by providing therapy for specific virus-infected clones. From 2006 to 2007, 26 stone and pome fruit pear clones were submitted by PPQ for therapy. In 2008, following therapy, 17 of these clones were returned as trees to PPQ for confirmatory testing.

Additionally, 42 pome fruit selections were submitted by PPQ for virus assays on fruiting trees. All testing was initiated by inoculating trees with tissue from these selections. These inoculated test trees will be monitored over three growing seasons for symptoms of virus and virus-like agents.

3. Distribution of virus-negative budwood and virus isolates: Over 17,700 virus-tested buds of 519 varieties were distributed by NRSP5 to research and industry between July 1, 2007 and April 18, 2008. These distributions were to all areas of the country and to eight foreign countries. Recipients of this budwood included scientists from land grant universities, federal research facilities, germplasm repositories, quarantine centers, private nurseries, and commercial tree fruit growers located in 17 states, and included clients from all regions of the country. As usual, the vast majority of the buds were provided to nurseries in certification programs for subsequent production of virus certified trees for orchards throughout the USA. Varieties represented in these distributions included proprietary and non-proprietary selections, many imported from foreign sources. Over 650 buds from diseased standards were also sent to 4 scientists for research purposes, as were other tissues from infected and healthy trees.

4. Acquisitions: During the past autumn and winter, 185 stone and pome fruit varieties were submitted to NRSP5 for virus testing and therapy. Though these numbers are not as high as last year's record numbers, they are still substantially above acquisition numbers in most previous years. These accessions came from nine foreign countries and from California, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Maryland, West Virginia, Minnesota, and Washington. They included 2 almonds, 38 apples, 17 cherries, 11 apricots, 62 peaches and nectarines, 25 pears, and 28 plums. Preliminary testing indicates that 14% of these will require therapy to remove viruses and/or viroids.

Bajet NB, Unruh TR, Druffel KL, Eastwell KC. 2008. Occurrence of Two Little Cherry Viruses in Sweet Cherries in Washington State. Plant Disease 92:234-238.

Eastwell KC. 2008. Ilarviruses (Bromoviridae). Encyclopedia of Virology, 3rd edition. Elsevier, Oxford, UK, in press.