Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) was first observed in 2016 in the Middle East. It is a highly pathogenic and transmittable virus. ToBRFV has been found in a number of countries for the last several years on almost all the continents causing major concerns for growers of tomato and pepper. ToBRFV can remain viable for long periods in seeds, plants and their parts, on a range of surfaces: cardboard, plant trays, packaging, tools, clothing etc. Rapid spread of ToBRFV resulted in adding it to the Alert List of the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) and establishing various international research groups in order to develop detection and identification methods. Since the end of 2019, EU Commission has established emergency measures to prevent the introduction into, and the spread within the EU territory of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus.

Comstock mealybug is of quarantine status under the Unified EAEU List. The infested plant material of fruit, horticultural and forest crops is the main way by which the pest is spread. To prevent introduction of quarantine species of mealybugs to pest free areas of the Russian Federation it is necessary to carefully inspect regulated products, detect quarantine and closely related species of mealybugs, conduct laboratory study for species identification. This study presents the results of the microscopic examination of diagnostic structures of the body of a female of Pseudococcus comstocki (Kuwana) that allow to distinguish between a quarantine object and closely related species of mealybugs detectable through a laboratory study.

The article presents general information about the origin, taxonomy, biology, geographical distribution and the main diagnostic methods of bacterial leaf spot of cabbage Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola (McCulloch) Young et al. Bacterial leaf spot of cabbage is included in the list of pests of quarantine importance for China, Israel, Egypt and Mexico. The bacteriology laboratory of the Testing Laboratory Center of FGBU “VNIIKR” analyzed rape samples, obtained from the places where export seeds intended only for processing are cultivated. Pest spread on the territory of Russia was monitored in some regions of the Far Eastern and Siberian Federal Districts. Samples of vegetative parts of rape were diagnosed by classical microbiological and molecular genetic techniques.

In the process of work, the possibility of application of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of certain COI gene fragments for identification of preimaginal developmental stages of spotted-wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii and possibility of application of these methods for laboratory diagnostics were studied. The article presents original data (base sequences) for identification of the target object by PCR method as well as further use for selection of species-specific genetic markers.

After the introduction into Russia, the oriental chestnut gall wasp has spread in all growing areas of sweet chestnut and started to cause damage. Local entomophages are unable to regulate its numbers effectively, so the introduction of its specialized parasitoid Torymus sinensis, based on the experience of many countries, is the only way to quickly reduce the number of pests and prevent further deterioration of chestnut. The environmental risk assessment of the new entomophage has been carried out and its introduction has been shown not to have notable risks for natural forest communities.

The article presents the results of dodder species and phytosanitary review in the Penza Region. It was determined that 3 species of the genus Cuscuta grow in this region where American field dodder is the only adventive species confined exclusively to anthropogenically modified coenoses, as opposed to greater dodder and hop dodder, which grow in natural floodplain phytocoenoses. The article describes what impact species of the genus Smicronyx have on dodders of different coenoses. It also shows that studied weevils have low importance as possible biological control agents of dodders.