| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | CONTACT: Kimberly Merenz |
| DATE, 2006 | (406) 444-3730 |
Monitoring Montana Soil for Nematodes
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana Department of Agriculture is sampling soil from the fields of nearly a dozen crops as part of a nationwide effort to determine the possible presence of microscopic roundworms that can damage crops.
Montana has a reputation for producing high-quality, pest-free seed crops including seed potatoes, and the Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) now underway is one way the state maintains this reputation, said Kimberly Merenz, pest management program manager for the Montana Department of Agriculture.
Among the 16 nematode pests targeted in the current survey is the potato cyst nematode, which was found for the first time in the United States during an April 2006 survey in Idaho. The discovery prompted quarantines and some international trade restrictions affecting Idaho, which is world famous for its potatoes.
Montana last surveyed for the potato cyst nematode in 2002 and did not find any, Merenz said. If the pest were found here, it could have serious consequences for the state's $25 million potato industry, particularly for seed potatoes sold to growers in several western states.
The potato cyst nematode, Globodera pallida, originated in the Andes Mountains and has spread to many countries of Europe and South America, and has also been found in Japan, New Zealand, and Newfoundland, Canada.
Soil is being tested in Montana for nematode species at plant nurseries and in fields planted to alfalfa, barley, beans, canola, flax, potatoes, safflower, sugar beet and wheat.
The CAPS program is administered by the department in cooperation with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. More than 150 detection surveys have been completed in Montana during the 20-year history of the CAPS program.
Surveys for crop-damaging pests are as important for what they don't find as for what is found, according to Merenz. The absence of certain pests enables Montana to ship products to other states and nations without additional testing, and to demand that products entering Montana be free of those pests as well.
Other cooperators in the CAPS program include county weed districts, Montana State University, the U.S. Forest Service and other state agencies. Monitoring for some pests, such as the cereal leaf beetle, is conducted every year. The cereal leaf beetle is found in 20 Montana counties, but has not been found in several key grain producing counties along the Canadian border.Additional information about the potato cyst nematode and the monitoring efforts in Idaho can be found on the Montana Department of Agriculture website at: http://agr.mt.gov/weedpest/caps/PCNfacts.pdf . For more information about the CAPS program, contact Kimberly Merenz or Michele Mettler at (406) 444-3730, or by e-mail at agr@mt.gov.
