A qualitative assessment of wind dispersal of resting spores of Synchytrium endobioticum, the causal agent of wart disease of potato.

Synchytrium endobioticum, the causal agent of potato wart disease, is soilborne. It is indigenous to home gardens throughout the island of Newfoundland. Scrapings from windows of a shed proximate to heavily infested soil yielded resting spores. To make a qualitative statement about wind dispersal, simple impaction devices were examined for periods between June and October. Spore recovery at the sample site during the sampling period was estimated at >1,000. The role of wind in dispersal, and its potential in the contamination of vehicles that exit the province, is discussed.