The clemson clean plant center (ccpc) is the sole clean plant center for fruit trees in the eastern U.S. The purpose of this project is to continue to ensure the supply of virus-negative budwood and…

This Cooperative Agreement award of $326,797 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025) supports the Clemson Clean Plant Center (CCPC) in South Carolina. The purpose is to ensure the supply of virus-negative budwood and rootstocks for the Southeastern peach industry by completing virus testing, maintaining the CCPC Prunus foundation, developing virus elimination protocols, and conducting outreach and quality control. The award will also support assessments to expand the center's efforts to additional fruit tree crops and experiment with virus elimination technologies. The CCPC provides diagnostics, therapy, and foundation material for Prunus cultivars with low chilling hour requirements for Southeastern stakeholders, which include peach tree nurseries and growers.

The clemson clean plant center (ccpc) is the sole clean plant center for fruit trees in the eastern U.S. The purpose of this project is to continue to ensure the supply of virus-negative budwood and rootstocks to the southeastern peach industry. Project activities will be focused on completing the southeastern budwood program virus testing, maintaining the ccpc prunus foundation, developing and refining protocols and carrying out virus elimination therapy, and conducting outreach and quality control. We will also conduct some "needs assessments" to prioritize our efforts in expanding to additional fruit tree crops and experimenting with virus elimination technologies. The ccpc will provide diagnostics, therapy, and foundation material for prunus cultivars with low chilling hour requirements suitable to the southeast U.S. Stakeholders for this effort include southeast peach tree nurseries and growers, and foundation material is accessible to stakeholders nationwide.