Notice

Potato brown rot: restricted watercourses

A list of watercourses with restrictions in place to control the organism that causes potato brown rot, and details of the restrictions.

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 1 March 2021

Applies to England

• Publication for Wales

Documents

Plant health: Brown rot river demarcation notice

PDF, 295 KB, 9 pages

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Details

This notice details:

• watercourses and surrounding areas that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has designated as contaminated by Ralstonia solanacearum, the organism that causes potato brown rot
• the restriction on the use of water from these areas for irrigation and spraying of potato and tomato crops

Potato brown rot is a serious bacterial disease of potato. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) annually monitors potatoes and has a programme of sampling watercourses to check for Ralstonia solanacearum.

Defra may put in place restrictions if this organism is found during sampling. For watercourses, this means the irrigation and spraying of potato and tomato crops is only possible using an approved method, such as:

• winter abstraction and storage
• water treatment

Growers or companies interested in developing or using an approved technique must first contact APHA. Email plant-help@apha.gov.uk.

Published 1 March 2021