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Plant Import


Plant Import Information

Plant Germplasm Quarantine Program

Here is a listing of the various crop programs operated by the PGQP, as well as a brief idea of how each functions.

Pome Fruit -Apples (Malus), Pears (Pyrus), Quince (Quince) and related Pome fruits (Chaenomeles species)
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More - Pome Program
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Pome fruit germplasm from outside the US is imported through a USDA mandated quarantine process where the material is tested for numerous viral and sub-viral pathogens, and undescribed infectious agents.

Potato - Solanum species

More - Potato Program
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The quarantine period for potato is approximately 9 months. Testing of vegetatively propagated potato and lots of true potato seed is conducted annually from September through May.

Sweet Potato - Ipomoea species

More - Sweet Potato Program
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The quarantine period for vegetatively propagated sweet potato is approximately 18 months. Tests for pathogens are conducted May through August in each of two years.

Sugarcane and related grasses - Saccharum species

More - Cane and Grass Program
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The quarantine for vegetatively propagated sugarcane is approximately 18 months. Sugarcane is usually exchanged as cane setts.

Rice - Oryza species

More - Rice Program
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Quarantine regulations are designed to (intercept) prevent the importation of several exotic seed-borne fungal and bacterial pathogens of rice and to prevent the introduction of certain rice species (Oryza longistaminata, O. punctata, and O. rufipogon) that are considered noxious weeds.

Stone fruit – Prunus species
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Fruiting and ornamental almonds, apricots, cherries, peaches, and plums usually arrive as dormant budwood, seed or rooted trees. Lab and greenhouse tests are performed to intercept 65 pathogens, of which 25 are exotic to the US. The typical quarantine period for stone fruit is 2 years if all testing is negative.

Ornamentals, tropical crops, and small fruits
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While in quarantine, eighteen genera of these crops are tested by visual observation, mechanical and graft inoculations, and serological assays for more than 50 viruses and phytoplasmas.

Grasses
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Vegetative germplasm entering the US from all countries except Canada is tested at PGQP for many exotic viruses. Twenty-five of these viruses are detected by mechanical inoculation of herbaceous indicators, while others that are not mechanically transmitted are detected using electron microscopy.

Last Modified: January 16, 2007