With USU Extension associate professor and plant pathology specialist Claudia Nischwitz, who holds a doctorate degree in natural resources.
Recently, the Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Lab, created by Nischwitz and Ernane Viera-Neto, who also has a doctorate degree, was designated as a core accredited diagnostic lab.
It is one of 10 plant diagnostic labs in the country to receive this designation.
Nischwitz is here to tell us a bit more about the lab, the work they're doing, and what the accreditation means.
Wynter Varner
Thank you for joining us today, Doctor.
Claudia Nischwitz
You're welcome. Thanks for having me.
Wynter Varner
So, let's start with the basics. What questions does your lab seeks to answer?
Claudia Nischwitz
So our diagnostic lab addresses questions affecting plants for homeowners, commercial growers, the Utah Department of Agriculture, and other regulatory agencies.
We're trying to help everybody keep their plants healthy, so growers and homeowners can send us plant samples if they have questions when their plants are doing poorly, and we try to solve the problems.
We also identify insect specimens. Sometimes people are in their yard and they see a spider or an insect running across, and they want to know what it is.
We do molecular plant identification. In some cases, somebody buys a home there's a tree there, they don't know what it is, they want to know, so they send us a sample, and we can do a DNA identification for the sample.
The same goes for roots that grow into storm drains, for example, if somebody wants to know which above ground plant causes the problem.
Wynter Varner
How do you go about addressing your client's questions?
Claudia Nischwitz
The client has a choice, we do have to charge a small fee for various testing, and so, depending what the client wants, they'll be charged differently.
Some want just a basic service. They want you to look at the plant, maybe do some microscopy, and tell them what the problem is, or what we think the problem is.
If it's a fungal or bacterial problem, we can culture the fungi and bacteria, and then identify them, either morphologically or using molecular tools.
And then, for virus samples, that depends.
In some cases, the virus symptoms are so distinct, we can just look at the sample and tell them which virus it is.
In other cases, we have to use antibody-based tests to identify the virus, or do a DNA extraction and a molecular identification.
For insect samples, Dr. Ernane Viera-Neto usually does morphological identification, but in some cases, if you have a black weevil, for example, there's dozens of different species out there.
We might have to do a molecular identification if the client wants to know exactly what it is.
Wynter Varner
Why is diagnosing plant problems so important?
Claudia Nischwitz
Well, especially for a commercial grower, their whole livelihood hangs on the crops they grow.
If plants get sick, most of the time they're not going to harvest from these plants.
If it's because of a viral disease or fungal disease, they can spread across an entire field very quickly.
If they come with a sample early, we can tell them what the problem is. They can do some mitigation, maybe apply a fungicide or other treatment depending on what the problem is, and save the rest of their crop.
Homeowners would like to have a nice yard, so again, they want to know what causes the problems with insect specimens.
I know sometimes new insect pests do emerge.
If we have observant people out there that bring us the samples, we might be able to detect it early and can then start looking more closely for these particular pests with surveys and prevent them from getting established in the state.
Wynter Varner
Recently, your lab was designated as a core accredited diagnostic lab. What does that mean, and why is that important?
Claudia Nischwitz
So, the Utah Plant Pest Diagnostic Lab is part of the National Plant Diagnostic Networks.
One lab in each state is a designated lab. The accreditation means that we have to follow standards that are put down by NPDN for plant disease diagnosis, including specific protocols for testing viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
We uphold the standard. We notify the clients of the results, we tell them how the plants were tested, we provide a report, all those kinds of things.
It's basically just that you follow the guidelines for proper diagnosing and providing information to the client, so you have to get your equipment certified and those kinds of things.
The accreditation is required to get federal funding for the lab in the future.
Wynter Varner
Thank you again for joining us today, Dr. Nischwitz.
Claudia Nischwitz
You're very welcome.
Wynter Varner
This has been Wynter Varner with the USU Extension Education Highlights. Thank you for tuning in.
For more information on this and other topics, visit extension.usu.edu.
