Pest Free Status - South American Leaf Blight in Singapore

Publication Date

Sun, 02 Sep 2012, 00:00

Last Updated

Jan. 5, 2021, 6:37 a.m.

Report Number

SGP-01/4

Country

Singapore

Pest Id

Microcyclus ulei - (MICCUL)

Report Status

Final

Hosts

Hevea brasiliensis

Pest Status (old values from ISPM 8 -1998 )

• Absent: no pest records

Pest Status (ISPM 8 - 2021)

• Absent: pest not recorded

Geographical Distribution

Entire country

Summary

Microcyclus ulei (South American Leaf Blight/SALB) is listed as a quarantine pest in Singapore. Survey of SALB in Singapore has been on-going since 1990s.

From 2005 to 2010,a detection survey on Microcyclus ulei was conducted on rubber trees, imports from SALB-endemic countries and passenger arrivals at the international airport in Singapore. Singapore only has rubber enclaves of Hevea brasiliensis remaining from old rubber plantations and those planted in some parks. A total of 1,208 samples of rubber leaves were collected from these rubber enclaves at regular intervals between monthly to quarterly in the 6 years period surveyed. Other than common leaf spotting pathogen i.e. Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, no SALB was detected. Routine monitoring of imports from SALB-endemic countries is carried out even though the risk is considered negligible for non-host organic materials. A total of 1,065 samples comprising of imported flowers, foliage, plants, fruits and vegetables from 7 SALB endemic countries were found to be free from SALB between 2005 to 2010. A total of 1,960 samples of the daily trap collections from SALB spore trap at arrival belt of the airport had been checked to be free from SALB spores. As such, the situation of Microcyclus ulei in Singapore is officially declared as Absent, no pest record.

Based on survey data from 2005 to 2016, the situation of Microcyclus ulei in Singapore has been officially declared as : Absent, no pest record (confirmed by survey). The survey of the passenger pathway via suction spore traps placed at arrival belts at Terminal 2, Changi International Airport ended in Jan 2016 after more than 10 years of monitoring. This report serves to update the pest free status pf Microcyclus ulei in Singapore.

The survey continued which focused mainly on imported commodities from SALB endemic countries. From 2017 to 2020, an estimated 7.3 million ornamental plants, cut flowers and foliage and around 33,000 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables were imported from SALB endemic countries. A total of 299 samples were collected from imported fresh produce. Fruits such as avocadoes, dragon fruits, asparagus and cut flowers such as gypsophila, rose, alstroemeria and hydrangea, were among the commodities being sampled.

In addition to these, a total of 346 samples from re-export commodities consisting mainly of coffee beans, cereals and spices originating from SALB endemic countries were collected and tested free from Microcyclus ulei. There has been no interception of SALB recorded from importing countries from these re-exported commodities as well.

Due to the relatively insignificant number of rubber trees in remaining rubber enclaves in nature reserves, sampling of rubber leaves had ceased during this period.

Therefore, based on the updated results obtained from 2017 to 2020, Singapore remained free from Microcyclus ulei i.e. Absent: no pest record (confirmed by survey).

Danger

Nil

Contact for info

Ms. Mei Lai Yap [email protected] [email protected]

Report files

Website

Issue keywords

Commodity keywords