Curtailing and managing exotic fungal spores incursions into Australia

This is the first research to bring new understanding on critical importance of inert materials as long-term carriers of viable fungal pathogen conidia, resting hyphae, ascospores and urediniospores across different temperatures. A critical finding is the extended viability of these fungal spores with ability to germinate on artificial media and/or to infect relevant specific hosts and introduce new diseases into Australia. A rapid method for detecting viable fungal spores been developed by novel application of a resazurin (Aiamar Blue) assay. Germination of viable spores from the test carrier materials could be impeded using fungicides and disinfectants.