b'order went into force Sept. 8, and requires thatany tomato and pepper seed destined for the United States must be certified free from PSTVd and the other five viroids based either on test-ing at origin prior to shipment, or that the seed was produced in a country free from any or all of these viroids. While this is positive in keeping PSTVd and these other viroidsYou have to go through those critical processes to get out, Dunkle says that this affects the current shipping seasona lot of countries currently arent able to do this sort of testing.to the good times. Another challenge is that most companies believe they arent Ric Dunkleseeing any of these pospiviroids in their products because the levels are so low. Were now down to a level of sensitivity that is incredibly low, Dunkle says. Were down to fragments of DNA that you can detect with these molecular methods, and we need to know how much viroid genetic material actually needs to be in a seedIts already effecting the availability of seed for seed com-before the seed can transmit the pathogen. Based on the experi- panies, commercial greenhouse and field growers. Eventually ence of seed producers, none of these viroids, including PSTVd,even gardners could be impacted, Dunkle says. There poten-are showing up anywhere as problems in tomato or pepper seedtially could be a seed shortage, unless we have a way to better production.address this phytosanitary security issue, which brings us back to He says that the time frames for coming up with solutions forthe systems approach. Where are those control points when the this problem are short. The first priority is to continue to workseed moves around? with USDA to come up with more options for complying withASTA and USDA continue to coordinate short-term solutions. the federal order as rapidly as possible. The main limitation rightHowever, Dunkle says getting through 2019 will be difficult. now is lack of capacity for all the needed seed health testing.The good news is were learning as we go, and were coming Disinfection and other treatment options also need to be quicklytogether as an industry while working with the government to evaluated. Longer term, companies and researchers will findtry and figure things out, Dunkle says. You have to go through ways to manage these viroids to keep them out of their seedthose critical processes to get to the good times.SWproduction systems.46/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2019'