Section outline
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Quarantine
Spread mainly results through activities of humans, and strict, standard horticultural propagation and production methods will limit dispersal (Smith, 1985). Planting material should be obtained from tree nurseries situated in disease-free regions: plants must be raised in locations known to be free from C. platani during (at least) the last growing season. Tools should be disinfected with alcohol or another high-potency disinfectant before pruning operations, even in uninfected regions, and should be repeated between each tree, particularly in infected regions. Any diggers or other hydraulic machinery used in the proximity of infected Platanus should be treated with an approved fungicide in pressurized water before being moved off that site (Blankart & Vigouroux, 1982), as adhering infective propagules may be transferred over considerable distances on machinery (Tsopelas & Soulioti, 2014). When infected trees are felled, all debris and sawdust should be sprayed to run-off with fungicide before sweeping up and disposal. Any potentially infected wood and other debris should be burned; transporting infected firewood to disease-free areas should be actively discouraged.
Apart from phytosanitary measures, no simple control methods are available. Breeding for resistance and related research produced a hybrid of P. x hispanica showing greater resistance, named ‘Vallis Clausa’(Vigouroux & Olivier, 2004), but more work is required to find the wide range of resistant host genotypes required for wide deployment in invaded environments, particularly given the extreme susceptibility of P. orientalis.
European Regulatıon (EU) 2022/1629 of 21 September 2022, implementing previous regulations, including European Regulation 2016/2031. Regulation (EU) 2020/1231, established that annual surveys for the presence of the disease should be carried out to ensure early detection of the pathogen in areas of the Union territory where the specified pest is not known to be present. Further details can be found at:https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32022R1629