A novel technique using the Hendrickx centrifuge for extracting winter sporangia of Synchytrium endobioticum from soil

A zonal centrifugation method, known as the Hendrickx centrifuge technique, was tested for routine detection of winter sporangia of Synchytrium endobioticum in soil. In four experiments the ability of the Hendrickx centrifuge to extract the sporangia from soil was compared with a method used by the Dutch Plant Protection Service, which is a modification of the recommended EPPO method. Naturally and artificially contaminated soil samples were used to study the recovery percentage of and variation in numbers of winter sporangia. The effects of soil type and inoculum density were studied. The Hendrickx centrifuge method, developed originally for extraction of free living nematodes from soil, performed better than the method used by the Dutch Plant Protection Service. This was due to a better extraction recovery (60% higher), a lower measurement error (50% lower) and a lower detection level (down to 0.02 sporangia g(-16) soil). The Hendrickx centrifuge method is much less labour-intensive than the method used by the Dutch Plant Protection Service. It can be used to extract many different organisms from soil, and DNA can be subsequently extracted from the supernatant for further PCR analysis. Inclusion of the Hendrickx centrifuge method in the official EPPO diagnostic protocol for regulated pests is recommended as an alternative method for detection of sporangia in soil.