Effective quarantine: Interception of sugarcane diseases in the last 20 years has protected the industry from exotic threats

Sugar Research Australia Indooroopilly has a post-entry quarantine facility that imports foreign clones per year. The imported clones are used for germplasm improvement in the SRA breeding program, with about 50% of released cultivars having at least one foreign clone as a parent. Quarantine of clones prior to their entry into the Australian sugarcane industry is important to keep out exotic pests and diseases. There have been many changes to quarantine since the industry began over 100 years ago: from no precautions at all, to the comprehensive system that we have today. This paper discusses the major milestones in quarantine, the evolution of the post-entry quarantine facility, the diseases tested for in post-entry quarantine, and the diseases that have been intercepted. We conclude with a summary of improvements that could be made to minimise the risk of importing diseases when achieving effective variety exchange. Key words Quarantine, import, disease, intercept