INTERREGIONAL COOPERATIVE RESEARCH IN FRUIT TREE 

 VIRUSES AND ASPECTS OF CONTROL MEASURES: I. HISTORY 



R.C. McCrum 

 Department of Botany and Plant Pathology 

 University of Maine 



Writing an article pertaining to U.S. apple virus research 

 efforts, following the very informative article by Dr. van Oosten 

 on the Netherlands fruit tree research in the Nov -Dec, 1975 Fruit 

 Notes , is quite a challenge. The Netherlands' success with its 

 system of distribution of nuclear stock coupled with the nursery 

 management system of inspection and regulations has set an extremely 

 difficult path for us to follow. Free American enterprise and its 

 competitive economics does not always furnish the best vehicle in 

 which to carry out a system of plant virus controls. This is il- 

 lustrated in the recent concern over the impending influenza virus 

 epidemic and governmental concern and action in instituting a 

 national program of vaccine distribution and inoculations. Disease 

 pathogens are unfortunately not considerate of the political as- 

 pects of a free laissez faire system. We presently lack the neces- 

 sary controls needed to control the distribution of virus-indexed 

 material along with inspections and cooperative nursery management 

 that has led to the success attained by the Netherlands and other 

 countries in speeding up their fruit tree virus control programs. 



The U.S. has come a long way in the last few years in obtain- 

 ing knowledge regarding fruit tree viral and mycoplasmal pathogens. 

 In so doing, we have established quarantine restrictions on imports 

 to exclude some serious systemic fruit tree diseases from entering 

 the U.S. This in turn has led to a superior product which must be 

 imported to U.S. buyers. At the same time, however, it has also 

 required cleaner, virus-free material to be produced in the U.S. 

 when we desire to export our apple tree material to other countries. 



Fruit tree virus research in the United States received in- 

 creases in support and importance in 1955 when the federal govern- 

 ment in cooperation with the separate experiment stations initi- 

 ated projects on tree fruits in the Cooperative Regional Research 

 Projects. At first, there were 3 regional fruit tree virus proj- 

 ects: a Northeastern, a Central and a Western group. At present, 

 the Northeastern group is the only one that is active. Other re- 

 gions still cooperate but not on an active formal basis. Incor- 

 porated into the regional approach to fruit tree viruses was an 

 interregional (IR-2) project and its coordinating committee whose 

 purpose was to establish, obtain, and preserve virus-free decidu- 

 ous tree fruit materials. By 1958, after 3 years of operation, the 

 IR-2 project had established facilities for research work and in- 

 dexing at the Irrigation Experiment Station at Prosser, Washington. 

 At the same time, there were plots established adjacent to the 

 Washington State Plant Quarantine station near Moxee, Washington 

 where virus-free cones could be maintained for budwood and seed 



