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Seemingly working in concert with the Grinch, Phytophthora
root rot is taking hold in the roots of Christmas tree farms throughout Oregon
and North Carolina. Phytophthora root rot is a rapidly moving fungus found in poorly
drained soils. It causes a slow decline in a tree first destroying the feeder
roots and then turning the needles light green or yellow. The pathogen infects
the root cortex first depriving the remainder of the root and the plant from
its nutrients. Pytophthora root rot is difficult to detect and is only verified
with laboratory analysis.
With a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Washington State
University and North Carolina State University have been conducting research on
the invasive soil borne fungus.
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“Phytophthora root rot plagues all regions where firs are
grown as Christmas trees,” said John Frampton, a Christmas tree geneticist at
North Carolina State University in Raleigh and a collaborator on the project.
There is no effective control for Phytophthora, so the best way to tackle the
problem is to find resistant tree species.
“The Christmas tree industry has some big challenges,” said
WSU researcher Gary Chastagner. “We hope that this national project will bring
together scientific expertise and techniques to address these two issues.”
One study estimated the potential losses to Oregon’s
nursery and Christmas tree industries of up to $304 million a year if Phytophthora
is not properly contained. Douglas and Noble fir are the dominant holiday tree
species in the Pacific Northwest.
In North Carolina, nationally the No. 2 producer, it costs
farmers up to $6 million a year, said Frampton.
Most Christmas tree species are susceptible to this
condition; including all true firs, Douglas firs, spruce and eastern white
pines. Field identification of symptoms includes
failure to thrive after planting, reddish-brown needles, or dieback. Root
systems may exhibit decay or stunted feeder root networks. Low-lying and poorly
drained areas are at particular risk.
There is no known remediation available for this disease so replanting the
area is for naught.
Katie McKeever, a Ph.D. candidate in Chastagner’s lab, is
working under a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to create a nationwide
collection of Christmas tree Phytophthoras to understand regional variation in
pathogen populations. The goal is to challenge various firs with different
Phytophthoras to determine mechanisms of resistance and ultimately develop
genetic markers to identify trees resistant to the disease, Chastagner said.
Read more at Washington
State University.
Christmas
tree farm image via Shutterstock.
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