Canterbury Potato Liberibacter Initiative (CPLI)

Funded by: CPLI.

Project Status: Current

Date of latest update: 9th January 2026

Project Overview

Canterbury Potato Liberibacter Initiative (CPLI), is a project created and funded by a committee of Canterbury growers and processors, with in-kind support from Potatoes New Zealand.

CPLI was formed in August 2021 by like-minded farmers and industry representatives to combat the devastating impact of the Liberibacter (Lso) bacterium which causes Zebra-chip in potato crops.

The issue is very clear and although the control measures and agronomy of Tomato Potato Psyllid (TPP) has made improvements, the incidence of Zebra Chip in the processing crop has increased and detection levels in potato fields have remained high.

It’s clear that current strategies and chemical programs are not solving or reducing the Zebra-chip impact for growers, seed growers and processors. The CPLI committee all agree there is a major knowledge gap with Lso. Although TPP is the carrier of Lso, Lso is affecting the quality of our potato crop.

Download our CPLI programme roadmap

CPLI Programme summary

12 Projects

PNZ-84 CPLI-1 Contact resistance COMPLETED CPLI-1 Contact Insecticide March 2022 FINAL

PNZ-84 CPLI-2 Systemic Resistance COMPLETED Report available upon request only.

PNZ-84 CPLI-3 Biological Control COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-4 Systemic acquired resistance COMPLETED Report available upon request only.

PNZ-84 CPLI-5 TPP Lure & traps COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-6 Calcium propionate COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-7 Border plantings COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-8 Bioassay COMPLETED FINAL REPORT Honours dissertation 2022_Liberibacter_Charan

PNZ-84 CPLI-9 Boxthorn removal COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-10 Biocontrol release COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-11 Psyllid trapping and gut content analysis COMPLETED

PNZ-84 CPLI-12 Integrated Pest Management in potatoes ONGOING

Read more about the projects in the latest newsletter below.

Communications

This is an overview guide for Canterbury to which will be able to compare data with your own field sticky trap numbers, to see where your crops sit in comparison.
Degree Day graphs can be found here.

Presentations

CPLI June 2022 Presentation from Lincoln Researcher Bioassay Charan Sivakumar-compressed

CPLI June 2022 Presentation from Lincoln Researcher TPP IPM – Koay Ping Ying

CPLI June 2022 Presentation from Lincoln Researcher TPP Host plants – Clive Kaiser

CPLI June 2022 Presentation from Lincoln Researcher Lure attractants – Kate Braidwood

CPLI June 2022 Presentation from Lincoln Researcher Biocontrol Agents – Emiliano Veronesi

Phone: 0800 399 674

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