Emerging viral diseases caused by TYLCV, ToLCNDV and ToBRFV threaten tomatoes and cucurbits. The horticulture sector responds to this urgent challenge, which impacts the value chain quite differently across the globe. The VIRTIGATION “country focus” series shines a light on this issue in the project’s focus countries. In our fifth edition, we explore the situation in Germany, one of Europe’s biggest agricultural producers.
ToBRFV as sole threat
Tomato and cucurbits greenhouse production takes place throughout the country. While the German horticultural sector is not among the world’s largest, the country’s sector is nevertheless influential. In fact, Germany is home to the leading trade fair in horticulture, the International Plant Trade Fair. It takes place every year in the German city of Essen.
The Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is the main threat to the horticulture value chain in Germany. The country detected ToBRFV for the first time in November 2018 in seven greenhouses in the region of North-Rhine Westphalia. VIRTIGATION partner LNW, responsible for plant health protection in the region, successfully managed to eradicate the ToBRFV outbreak. It cleared the affected greenhouses of all tomato plants, destroyed the whole plant material and disinfected all surfaces and objects. Since the first ToBRFV outbreak, Germany recorded several more outbreaks across the country, mainly affecting tomato greenhouses. The last outbreak was reported in November 2021.
The European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) considers ToBRFV to be present in Germany, with few occurrences. The majority of ToBRFV outbreaks took place in North-Rhine Westphalia, putting LNW on the frontline in the fight against the virus in Germany. The whitefly-transmitted Tomato New Delhi leaf curl virus (ToLCNDV) and the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) are both not present in the country. This makes ToBRFV the sole serious threat to the national horticulture value chain.
Measures taken to halt viral outbreaks
German plant health authorities have taken a wide range of measures to contain the spread of ToBRFV, all outlined in strict hygenie protocols. This includes notably the removal of substrate (as steaming is not sufficient to destroy the virus), incineration of all infected materials and also the renewal of bumblebee colonies (as these can spread ToBRFV). Furthermore, likely infected tomato plants must be immediately sealed into plastic bags before being sent for testing to the laboratory.
As ToBRFV is still classified as quarantine virus, suspected viral outbreaks must be immediately reported to plant health protection authorities. LNW, as well as VIRTIGATION partner JKI (the German federal research centre for cultivated plants), provide a compact overview on their websites for growers on how to act in case of a ToBRFV outbreak.
VIRTIGATION partners JKI and LNW leading virus fight
In Germany, the VIRTIGATION partner JKI is the National Knowledge Broker for the country’s multi-actor approach in the project. LNW, the plant health protection service in the German region of North-Rhine Westphalia, supports JKI in steering the VIRTIGATION network in Germany. Both JKI and LNW play a crucial role in supporting the German horticulture value chain. Thanks to its experience in succesfully eradicating the first national ToBRFV outbreak, LNW provides valuable advice, information and training to growers on how to handle ToBRFV. JKI possesses state-of-the-art virus detection and diagnostics facilities, as well as profound expertise on virus ecology to prepare the sector for future emerging viral diseases.
JKI is furthermore a key pillar of the Federal plant health strategy in Germany. It is directly subordinated to the country’s national plant health organization, the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Subsequently, the JKI provides comprehensive scientific advice to the German Federal Government not only on plant viruses, but also on the wider cultivation, nutrition, protection and health of cultivated plants.
