GENEVA, NY - A Research and Evaluation Quarantine Block (REQ) is a piece - or block - of ground where scientists can grow and characterize imported plant material. The REQ at Cornell University's Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva , NY, is a two-acre block that will be planted on the Wellington Farm at Geneva. It was established in November, 1995, with the permission of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and will be overseen by a committee composed of Cornell and USDA researchers.
"The REQ is the only one of its kind on the planet," says Jim McFerson, research leader of the USDA-ARS Plant Genetic Resources Unit (PGRU) at the station in Geneva.
At the new block, Cornell and USDA-ARS scientists will have a unique opportunity to establish and evaluate plantings of grapevines imported from accredited foreign sources. It represents the culmination of a decade of collaboration among three Cornell faculty - Dennis Gonsalves, Bruce Reisch, and Bob Pool - and PGRU curators Warren Lamboy and Phil Forsline.
"Historically, grapes have been subject to strict import quarantines for pests such as viruses, bacteria, or insects," says Dennis Gonsalves, professor of plant pathology at the station, whose lab has served as the quarantine entry point for grapevines since 1978. "Grape material could not be brought into this country without passing through strict indexing procedures. The series of tests takes at least two to three years and can cost $1,000 per plant."
Viticulturists and grape breeders need at least 10 plants of any specific cultivar to evaluate it properly. Some vines die and some don't grow so the cost of the quarantine was prohibitive, according to grape curator, Warren Lamboy. "Grape breeders would rather bring in the grape material, grow it out, evaluate its performance, and then incorporate it into the breeding program," Lamboy says. "Only after a grape rootstock proves particularly cold-hardy or resistant to Phylloxera, for example, would it subjected to the $1,000/rootstock 'cleaning' and entered into the national collection for use by breeders."
Since the 1980s, grape researchers in New York and California have been trying to get APHIS to approve an arrangement that would allow them to import vines from recognized and approved grape sites around the world under controlled conditions for evaluation and research only.
The Geneva location is a test case for APHIS and one that is supported by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. If it works as researchers expect, other test sites for other crops could be developed that would accelerate the introduction of genetic resources into the nation's gene banks and breeding programs.
"The REQ enables Cornell and USDA researchers to cost-effectively evaluate, under New York's growing conditions, a greater number of imported grape varieties than ever before," says Lamboy.
Contact: Linda McCandless
315-787-2417
e-mail: llm3@cornell.edu
Communications Services, Geneva, NY
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