Plant Health Lab Services
Plant diseases are caused by a diversity of pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, viruses, and nematodes and these pathogens pose a serious threat to sustainable agricultural production systems. Efficient and early diagnosis of disease-causing pathogens is essential for implementation of control strategies to mitigate negative economic impacts.
Perennia’s Plant Health Lab was created in 2018 to help local producers through classical and molecular approaches for early disease diagnostics. Perennia’s team of commodity specialists supports our lab and together we provide growers with a holistic approach to managing pathogens.
The lab is constantly growing to serve you better, so please contact our pathologist and molecular biologist to learn more about our offerings. If you have general questions and comments, please contact us below.
Order Tests
Please review the sample submission guidelines and fill out a sample submission form.
If you have any questions please contact our Plant Health Lab staff at planthealthlab@perennia.ca
Samples can be dropped off at our Kentville office (28 Aberdeen Street) or our Truro office (173 Dr. Bernie MacDonald Dr, Bible Hill)Â between the hours of
8:00 am – 4:30 pm Monday to Thursday and from 8:00 am – 1:00 pm on Friday.
If you are not able to drop off your samples in person, the Plant Health Lab does accept samples by mail.
If you plan to mail your samples, please contact the Plant Health Lab Staff at planthealthlab@perennia.ca to discuss shipping recommendations to best preserve sample quality.
Plant Disease Diagnostics
Fungi
Fungi and fungi-like organisms inflict huge yield losses globally despite the abundant use of fungicides. Plant pathogenic fungi cause disease symptoms on all plant parts (seed, seedling, leaves, fruits, and root). Symptoms may include spots and blights on leaves, stems, and fruit, rots of tubers, cankers, damping off, seedling and plant diebacks, galls, and wilts. Their early detection in infected plant tissue will ensure taking preventative measures.
Fungal disease diagnosis at the Plant Health lab consists of classical approaches based on visual disease symptoms, hyphal and spore morphology, shape and size of conidia and other fruiting structures. Fungal infections are often systemic, and plant tissue is surface sterilized followed by incubation either on sterile filter paper under humid conditions or incubated on selective media for their successful isolation and identification. In some cases, molecular methods such as PCR and DNA sequencing are used to resolve the causal species.
Depending on the crop or the symptom area, there are specific sampling instructions. Please contact our Field Plant Pathologist for details, but below are some general guidelines:
- Briefly describe the problem/symptoms on the sample submission form.
- Sample must be representative of the symptoms observed in the field.
- Select samples that are still alive with visible symptoms. Dead or dying tissue should not be sampled.
- Plants should be dug (not pulled) so the entire root system remains intact.
- Be sure to collect the sample prior to pesticide application. Pesticides may interfere with diagnosis.
- Wrap the plant/plant parts in a paper towel and enclose it in a plastic bag so that the sample does not dry out. Be sure to shake off any excess soil from the roots or send them in a separate plastic bag.
- Specimen must be fresh. If a sample cannot be mailed immediately, keep it refrigerated or in a cool area out of sunlight.
- Shipping samples immediately after sampling is the best option. Otherwise, samples can be stored briefly at 4-10°C until they can be shipped. DO NOT freeze samples or expose them to heat.
- Pack the sample securely in the Styrofoam/cardboard box and mail it or drop off.
- If possible, choose the fastest method to mail out the sample. Mail early in the week to avoid weekend delays.
- Please include completed submission form(s) for each sample.
- Please contact the Perennia Plant Health Lab at planthealth@Perennia.ca to notify us of incoming samples
Drop off or Mail to:
Perennia Food & Agriculture
28 Aberdeen Street, Unit 6
Kentville, Nova Scotia B4N 2N1
877-710-5210
Figure 1. Anthracnose (Colletotrichum acutatum) (fungal) of strawberry sample submission with diseased root tissue and healthy plant tissue.
Figure 2: Plant sample cutting diagram. Position 1 indicates where a leaf tissue sample should be taken (try and include at least four leaves). Position 2 indicates where a stem tissue sample should be taken (make sure to include both healthy and diseased tissue). Position 3 indicates where a root tissue sample should be taken.
Bacteria
The diseases caused by bacteria in horticultural crops impose varying degrees of economic impacts. Many genera of bacteria, Agrobacterium (galls on plants), Ralstonia (wilts), Pseudomonas, Xanthomonas or Pantoea (leaf spot, blight, blast, cankers and wilt), Corynebacterium or Curtobacterium (leaf spot, fruit spot and wilt) and Erwinia or Dickeya (soft rot or wilt) are known plant pathogenic bacteria.
At the Plant Health Lab, our plant pathologists use visual disease symptoms, bacterial streaming, culturing on selective media and DNA sequencing to identify the causal bacterial species.
Depending on the crop or the symptom area, there are specific sampling instructions. Please contact our Field Plant Pathologist for details, but below are some general guidelines:
- Briefly describe the problem/symptoms on the sample submission form.
- Sample must be representative of the symptoms observed in the field.
- Select samples that are still alive with visible symptoms. Dead or dying tissue should not be sampled.
- Plants should be dug (not pulled) so the entire root system remains intact.
- Be sure to collect the sample prior to pesticide application. Pesticides may interfere with diagnosis.
- Wrap the plant/plant parts in a paper towel and enclose it in a plastic bag so that the sample does not dry out. Be sure to shake off any excess soil from the roots or send them in a separate plastic bag.
- Specimen must be fresh. If a sample cannot be mailed immediately, keep it refrigerated or in a cool area out of sunlight.
- Shipping samples immediately after sampling is the best option. Otherwise, samples can be stored briefly at 4-10°C until they can be shipped. DO NOT freeze samples or expose them to heat.
- Pack the sample securely in the Styrofoam/cardboard box and mail it or drop off.
- If possible, choose the fastest method to mail out the sample. Mail early in the week to avoid weekend delays.
- Please include completed submission form(s) for each sample.
- Please contact the Perennia Plant Health Lab at planthealth@Perennia.ca to notify us of incoming samples
Drop off or Mail to:
Perennia Food & Agriculture
28 Aberdeen Street, Unit 6
Kentville, Nova Scotia B4N 2N1
877-710-5210
Figure 1: Fireblight (Erwinia amylovora) (bacterial) of apple sample submission with diseased and healthy stem and leaf tissue.
Figure 2: Plant sample cutting diagram. Position 1 indicates where a leaf tissue sample should be taken (try and include at least four leaves). Position 2 indicates where a stem tissue sample should be taken (make sure to include both healthy and diseased tissue). Position 3 indicates where a root tissue sample should be taken.
Viruses
Plant viruses are obligate parasites that infect host plants and use their cellular machinery to replicate and proliferate. They can gain entry into a plant in many different ways, including vectors (i.e., nematodes, aphids, whiteflies), vegetative propagation and wounding. The symptoms associated with virus infection can vary greatly and can be confused with other common abiotic and biotic stressors. They can affect many different marketable parts of plants (i.e., leaves, flowers, fruit and stems), resulting in reduced yield and quality. Once a plant is infected with a virus, it is infected for life, and depending on how the virus is transmitted, it can spread to neighbouring healthy plants in a field or greenhouse.
Diagnosis of viruses by eye is very challenging due to their variation in symptoms. A laboratory test is the most reliable form of diagnosis, such as an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The Plant Health Lab currently offers PCR testing for grapevine, raspberry and strawberry viruses
Our Team
Molecular Biologist
Matthew Peill, MSc
Matthew has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from St. Francis Xavier University (2016), and recently completed his Master’s of Science in Biology at Acadia University (2021). His master’s work focused on strawberry aphids and their role as the primary vector of strawberry decline disease associated viruses. As a horticulture specialist at Perennia Matthew worked with small fruit and vegetables producers throughout Nova Scotia addressing production issues. From both his education and previous work with Perennia, Matthew has gained extensive experience with a wide variety of horticultural crops, as well as with plant viruses in field and laboratory settings.
Horticulturist and Field Plant Pathologist
Dustin MacLean, M.Sc. P.Ag
Dustin published two peer reviewed journal articles from his MSc work in the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology and Crop Protection. He also conducted field disease surveys across Saskatchewan during this time and published three of these in the Canadian Plant Disease Survey on stripe rust, smut, and leaf spots of wheat. Upon completion of his MSc, he worked during the later portion of 2016 at the University of Saskatchewan where he identified plant pathogens in field pea that were present in studies conducted by the pulse crop plant physiology lab.
DISCLAIMER AND RELEASE OF LIABILITY
Please be advised that where a sample, provided by the Client, has tested negative for the presence of a virus or a pathogen that this negative test does not prove unequivocally the absence of virus or pathogen. This potential for a False Negative Test is due to seasonal and temporal fluctuation in pathogen levels, the inherent limitations of sampling and testing protocols, and the possibility of pathogen strain variability. Therefore, Perennia makes no representations or warranties to the Client, that a negative test result from a sample is unequivocally free of infection, and subsequently Perennia shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by the Client due to any resulting management decisions the Client makes based on the negative test results. The Client agrees that any and all claims for loss or damage which the Client has or in the future may have against Perennia arising out of or related to the provision of Services, whether such claim is founded in contract or tort, shall be strictly limited to the amount of fees actually paid by the Client to Perennia for the Services. This disclaimer and release of liability shall also be binding upon the Client’s successors, heirs, executors, and administrators.
USE OF INFORMATION
By submitting a sample to Perennia, the Client agrees to the use of the Client’s test results for research purposes only in an anonymous aggregate form. Perennia treats all information collected by the Perennia as confidential subject to meeting the requirements under the law.