French Psa-V update

France is one of the largest kiwifruit production countries in Europe, and like most kiwifruit production regions is infected with the global outbreak strain of Psa-V (r Biovar 3).

As at autumn 2013, France had about 4400 hectares planted in the following cultivars:

• 4020 ha Hayward
• 165 ha Summerkiwi
• 20 ha other green varieties
• 25 ha Hort16A
• 70 ha Gold3
• 40 ha other gold varieties
• 35 ha Arguta

Estimates of total Psa-V infection rates are difficult to obtain. The French Ministry of Agriculture provides official data at the annual Psa meeting each February for the previous year. Therefore, 2013 data is the latest official data available.

In 2013, 2344 hectares of kiwifruit were officially inspected for Psa with 123 samples returning positive results (out of 400 taken from orchards with symptoms). This represents 386 canopy hectares or 8.9 percent of the total industry.

However reports based on visual inspections since 2011 suggest the cumulated infection rate is much higher—around 50 percent. Since 2011, four percent of the orchards have been cut back or removed.

Data from 2014 survey will be released in February 2015 and KVH will report these when they become available.