THE crippling cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) has furthered its spread within Western Australia with recent detections in Carnarvon and Geraldton.
The WA Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) last week confirmed another four infected cucumber properties in the Geraldton region in close proximity to two earlier detections.
The virus was also found in Carnarvon on a commercial cucumber crop and in an endemic weed growing on a fenceline between two properties.
The detections were made from samples collected during a survey of commercial cucurbit growing properties earlier this month, with assistance from vegetablesWA.
DAFWA chief plant protection officer John van Schagen said the department was working with impacted growers to develop on-farm biosecurity plans.
CGMMV was detected in Australia for the first time in the Northern Territory in 2014, and then in Queensland last year on a Charters Towers property.
Ashley Walmsley
Ashley Walmsley is the editor of ACM's only national, fresh produce magazine, Good Fruit & Vegetables, while also covering horticulture stories for the agricultural papers and websites. He also writes the weekly, The Ringer, column in the Qld Country Life.
Ashley Walmsley is the editor of ACM's only national, fresh produce magazine, Good Fruit & Vegetables, while also covering horticulture stories for the agricultural papers and websites. He also writes the weekly, The Ringer, column in the Qld Country Life.
