A team of Murdoch University scientists are striving to find ways to prevent plant diseases from destroying the multi-billion dollar tree plantation industry.
The scientists, led by Associate Professor Giles Hardy, Director of the Centre for Phytophthora Science and Management at Murdoch University, are researching preventative measures to stop disease causing pathogens from spreading.
Professor Hardy said the group, which included six postdoctorate scientists and 24 PhD students, was developing a unique taxonomic database of disease pathogens present in Australia.
The database would prove useful in long-term plans to develop disease resistant plants but also to try to stay several steps ahead of the pathogens as they evolved.
"The long term aim would be to develop disease resistant plants"
Associate Professor Giles Hardy
Professor Hardy said there was potential for the pathogens to move from native forests into nearby tree plantations and cause significant economic losses.
“In some cases, pathogens introduced from planting material from the east coast or other parts of the country may also affect our native forests,” Professor Hardy said.
Professor Hardy said that planting an exotic monoculture – such as a Tasmanian blue gum - next to a native forest created an opportunity for the pathogens to build up, thereby resulting in disease outbreaks. Eucalypt plantations in WA, which were only planted on a large scale 20 years ago had not experienced the disease problems that had occurred in other parts of the world.
However, in places where clonal forestry had been established much longer, such as South America and South Africa, diseases had decimated eucalypt plantations.
“The long term aim would be to develop disease resistant plants,” Professor Hardy said.
An example of an introduced pathogen that is commonly referred to as a “biological bulldozer” is Phytophthora cinnamomi.
This pathogen, which is also referred to as Phytophthora dieback, has been associated with destroying native bushlands and horticultural crops in Western Australia.
A conservative estimate for this pathogen’s potential impact on Western Australia’s biological assets, such as honey production, tree production and pharmaceutical plants, is $127m annually.
