**United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service**  **Plant Protection and Quarantine** 

## Administrative action **s to**  **add to the Treatment Manual**  **a new hot water treatment**  **(T201 -**  **p -**  **4) for plant material not tolerant**  **to chemi**  **cal fumigation**  **and to remove a less efficacious**

**treatment (T201 -**  **p -**  **3) Treatment Evaluation Document**  **Date** : October 11, 2012 **Treatments, Pests, Commodities and Countries New Treatment/**  **Revision/Deletion Treatment Type**  **Target Pests Commodity**  **Applicabl e**  **Country(ies) of**

**origin** New Treatment Hot Water Pest L ist 1 Plant Material not tolerant to fumigation All

**Objective:** To provide supporting information and justification for the addition of a hot water treatment, T201
- p - 4, for plant material not tolera nt to fumigation, to the phy tosanitary treatments described in the PPQ Treatment Manual (TM) , and to remov e a less efficacious hot water treatment , T201
- p - 3 , from the TM. These actions are to help continue the safe trade of plant material not tolerant to the chemical fumigation. **Overview:** Currentl y under special permit conditions (also known as Departmental Permit), Plant Protection and Quarantine’s Plant Germplasm Quarantine Program (PGQP) in Beltsville, Maryland , is authorized to import prohibited plant material including: sugarcane, rice, grasses, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pomes, prunus, small fruits, etc. , as germplasm collection s and/or to carry out research activities. The permit
1 In sects - Aphidae, Thripidae, Formicidae, Coccidae, Pseudococcidae, Diaspididae, Py ralidae, Tortricidae, Sy

rphidae, Sc arabaeidae, Cucurlionidae, Tenebrionidae Snails
- Ampullariidae, Planorbidae Mites
- Acaridae, Tarsonemidae, Tetranyc hidae, Tydeidae Nematodes

– Pratylenchus (genus only)2

conditions for sugarcane state that plant material “should be select ed from apparentl y disease
- free and pest
- free sources” and a “mandatory hot water treatment of sugarcane stalks” will be carried out at the Plant Inspection Station (PI S) at Beltsville, MD. While the plant material selected may be free of visible pests, c ertain pathogens that are latent in nature may

cause imperceptible sy

mptoms and thus escape detection. Hot water treatment is therefore required to mitigate risks from such pests. The hot water treatment referred to in the Department Permit is T201
- p - 3 , which requires hand removal of visible pests followed b y exposing the plant material to 50° C (122° F) water for 20 minutes
. Although the treatment currently is used to treat only the plant material imported b y PGQP as part of the germplasm collection, the treatment is approved for all plant material intolerant to fumigation regardless of its intended use.

This treatment is consistent with FAO/IBPGR Technical Guide for the Safe Movement of Sugarcane Germplasm (Frison and Putter, 1993). However, wor king with imported plant material over the ye ars, PGQP has found this hot water treatment is not effecacious for many pests of concern that may accompany consignment s . For this reason , and to accommodat e likel y temperature fluctuations, the PGQP has found that an alternate hot water treatment at 52° C (125.6 ° F ) for 30 minutes is more effecacious against a wide range of pests accompanyingthe consignments ( Jeffers, 201 1 , pers. comm.)
. Based on the pest interception records , and the fact that plant material imported over the ye ars into the United States has apparentl y not always originated from disease
- and pest
free sources, the PGQP recommends use of the 52° C (125.6 ° F) /30 minute treatment for all plant material not tolerant to fumigation. Per recommendation , handpicking of visible pests where appropriate may still be required prior to hot water treatment. The Departmental Permit also makes reference to availability of other treatments such as T201
- c - 1 , which is fumigation with methyl bromide gas. Ho wever, the fumigation has generall y been found to greatl y reduce the viability of the treated plant materials and therefore not practical in all cases (Maroon
- Lango, 2010, pers. comm.)
.3

**Evaluation:** At the recommendation of PGQP, CPHST’s treatment qual ity assurance unit (TQAU) evaluated the research and determined that hot water treatment at 52 °C (125.6° F) , for 30 minutes was adequate to control a wide range of external feeding pests as described below (Jeffers, 2011, pers. comm.) . TQAU has therefo re recommended addition of the 52 °C (125.6° F) / 30 minute hot water treatment to the PPQ T reatment M anual. When adopted the treatment would be listed as T201
- p - 4 in the TM with the following information. **T201 -**  **p -**  **4 (New):** Plant material not tolerant to fumigation **Pests:** Insects
- Aphidae, Thripidae, Formicidae, Coccidae, Pseudococcidae,

Diaspididae, Py

ralidae, Tortricidae, S yrphidae, Scarabaeidae, Cucurlionidae, Tenebrionidae Snails
- Ampullariidae, Planorbidae Mites
- Acaridae, Tarsonemidae, Tetranychidae, Tydeidae Nematodes

– Pratyl enchus (genus onl y) **Treatment: T201**  **- p**  **- 4 (New):**  Hot water treatment

– Hot water at 52 °C (125.6° F) , for 30 minutes Where appropriate, handpicking of all visible pests before hot water treatment will still be require d. For reasons as stated above, TQAU has also recommended removal of the treatment T201
- p - 3 from the TM.4

**Decision:** Recommend addition of T201
- p - 4 hot water treatment at 52 °C (125.6° F) for 30 minutes to and removal of T201
- p - 3 hot water treatment at 44 .4° C (112° F) for 2 0 minute s from the PPQ T reatment M anual
. **Originator s**  **:** Laura Jeffers. PPQ
- CPHST
- TQAU, Pest Exclusion Specialist **Refer e**  **nces Cited:** Frison, E.A. and C.A.J. Putter. 1993. FAO/IBPGR Technical Guidelines for the Safe Movement of Sugarcane Germplasm. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, Rome. 45 pp .