On February 9, APHIS will host a webinar from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time to review the outcome of a preliminary litchi tomato trap crop weed risk analysis (WRA) for litchi tomato and solicit feedback. In particular, APHIS is seeking additional information on litchi tomato’s biology in southeastern Idaho to better estimate its risk potential, and potential risk mitigations that can help reduce its risk to an acceptable level for stakeholders. APHIS will use the information from stakeholders to finalize the WRA.
Litchi tomato (Solanum sisymbriifolium) is a potentially valuable plant for U.S. potato growers because it can be grown as a trap crop to control the pale cyst nematode, an economically important pest of potato. However, it also raises some concerns as a potential weed because it is invasive in some regions of the world and causes environmental and agricultural impacts.
Register for the webinar here:
https://forms.office.com/g/EUKwZHK7vq
Join the webinar:
https://coreshield.zoomgov.com/j/1602203124?pwd=YjZaWUVhT2VldHZicnp5YjhEdmVVdz09
Webinar Password: aZL9K-Ecf
You can view the Litchi Tomato Trap Crop Weed Risk Analysis here:
Email your comments to anthony.l.koop@usda.gov by March 9, 2022, and include subject line “LT Analysis Comments”
