Biosecurity of kiwifruit plants: effects of internal microchip implants on vines for monitoring plant health status

The sanitary condition and traceability of kiwifruit cuttings can represent a key point for pest control in the production of planting material. In recent years there has been concern about the rise of bacterial canker and thus investigation of systems to improve plant biosecurity. Radio frequency identification (RFID) microchips were implanted in 1- or 2-year-old Actinidia deliciosa in order to develop a system for plant traceability able to record health status, certifications or sanitary assay. To assess the health of implanted plants, histological observations were performed, while functional vascular tissue area and mean relative growth rate were evaluated. A small calibre trunk (5-7 mm) did not allow microchip implantation. Conversely, larger trunk diameters seem to sustain microchip positioning. Data reading tests were performed to evaluate the access to sanitary data, and RFID accuracy and reliability were satisfactory. Requirement analysis for the kiwifruit plant nursery chain was performed to help develop a computer-based information system able to record and retrieve sanitary data from each plant. Requirement analysis made it possible to identify traceability objectives, materials and stakeholders involved, as well as RFID-tagging steps and methods to collect information and matching data.