Nematodes can be a headache for growers. Luckily, ways to manage them are being researched and developed. At the Malcolm Media Tree & Vine Expo and in an interview with Matthew Malcolm on California Ag Network, Andreas Westphal with UCCE Riverside discusses nematode management. Watch this quick video and learn more in Pacific Nut Producer Magazine.
Tag: Nematodes
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Growers No Longer Need Compromises with Fumigation and Nematicides with GroPro’s Vigilance
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Worldwide growers face severe issues with the allocation of fumigants, reduced control from conventional nematicides, or bio and conventional-based nematicides that provide suppression or just don’t work. The damage done by nematodes to crops is devasting, leading to reduced uptake of nutrients, lower yields, or slower growth. The losses from nematodes exceed 10 billion USD annually. Unfortunately, there is no way of fixing a poor start when planting or getting back lost revenue regarding nematicide control.
Vigilance Nematicide is GroPro’s patented bio-nematicide, providing fumigation and in-field application control, and it’s a proven nematicide that has gone head-to-head in multiple fields and demo trials worldwide with both conventional and bio-based nematicides. These third-party trials and demos were performed on a wide range of crops, such as grapes, almonds, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, citrus, potatoes, plus others, all of which have shown superior efficacy against conventional and bio-based nematicides. The potato fumigation replacement trial showed an increase of over 11% in yield and an excellent nematode reduction compared to the grower standard fumigation program. This was accomplished with an increase in the number of ones and twos over the conventionally applied blocks while reducing damage to the tuber itself, allowing for a better marketable potato. The in-season applications to above-ground crops have increased root mass and decreased galling—root matter, especially when considering fertilizer absorption by the plants.
Vigilance ensures a long safe approach to your nematode program. Vigilance uses a patented formulation that delivers superior environmental and worker safety. Vigilance Nematicide works on penetrating the roots to support new fleshy root growth and deals with parasitic nematodes inside the root itself. Vigilance performs in soil nematode control by causing paralysis, destruction of the nematode eggs, GABA, reduced female fecundity, and death. These modes of action continue for months* allowing for a long-term active control time. This long-term activity is due to Vigilance being produced using GroPro’s patented AMPx technology. Vigilance is both a control and suppression material for nematodes allowing peace of mind for growers while delivering a safe impact to workers and the environment. Vigilance has no MRL restrictions, zero setback issues, zero plant back restrictions, and zero pre-harvest restrictions.
GroPro Corp., a leading agri-biotech company, combines unique natural ingredients and modern technologies to manufacture bioproducts (biological inputs) with enhanced efficacy. It is a commercial bio-pesticide, bio-stimulant, bio-fertilizer manufacturer and an R&D international organization. GoPro aims to close the gap in effective non-chemical inputs that enable farmers to reduce their reliance on chemicals without compromising agricultural yield, quality, or profitability.
GroPro’s approach entails proprietary technologies, including pharmaceutical-grade biotech manufacturing processes. It works relentlessly to innovate and lead the way in the worldwide development, research, education, and adoption of the agro-biotech market.*When applied correctly
More info: groproag.com
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Supreme Raisins a Hit at the UC Kearney Grape Day 2017
Kearney, Calif., (August 21, 2017) – Excitement over the new Sunpreme raisins was evident at UC Kearney Grape Day Aug. 8, 2017. As soon as the tram stopped, dozens of farmers and other industry professionals rushed over to the vineyard to take a close look and sample the fruit. Raisins pulled from the vine were meaty with very little residual seed. The flavor was a deep, sweet floral with a muscat note.
Sunpreme raisins drying on their own in a Kearney vineyard. Sunpreme raisins, bred by now-retired USDA breeder David Ramming, promise a nearly labor-free raisin production system. Traditionally, raisins are picked and placed on paper trays on the vineyard floor to dry. The development of dried-on-the-vine varieties opened the door to greater mechanization. Workers would cut the stems above clusters of grapes, which then dry out in the canopy and are harvested mechanically. The new wrinkle with Sunpreme is that grapes ripen and then start to dry on their own – no cane cutting needed.
UC Cooperative Extension viticulture specialist Matthew Fidelibus and UCCE viticulture advisor George Zhuang are now studying the performance of Sunpreme grapes on different rootstocks and trellis systems at the UC Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center.
UCCE specialist Matt Fidelibus is conducting rootstock and trellis system experiments on Sunpreme raisins. “We didn’t know a lot about this variety,” Fidelibus said. “We’ve found it to be very vigorous.”
Fidelibus said the raisins take about a month to dry, and one challenge is the tendency for dried raisins to drop off the vine.
“We want to keep the self drying and stop self dropping,” he said.
Ramming discovered the Sunpreme variety in a Thompson seedless table grape variety trial in the mid-1990s. He was going down the row, saw clusters of raisins and screeched to a stop. He had discovered Sunpreme. The variety is not yet available for commercial production.
Fighting nematodes with new solutions
Also during Grape Day 2017, UC Cooperative Extension nemotology specialist Andreas Westphal outlined research underway to keep nematodes at bay.
“There’s no methyl bromide in commercial planting,” Westphal said. The very effective fumigant was banned because of it’s tendency to deplete ozone in the atmosphere and the risk to human health because of its toxicity. Many farmers have turned to Telone as an alternative, however it is expensive and its use is limited by a township cap.
Westphal is comparing alternative treatments for clearing the soil of the tiny worms that feed on vine roots and inhibit vineyard productivity.
“Some companies are coming up with new chemistry,” Westphal said. “Our challenge in the perennial world is that the roots go so deep.”
Seven new products and Telon were drenched in different replicated research plots. Some areas were left alone to serve as control. Three times the number of Sauvignon Blanc vines were planted in the plots compared to a typical vineyard so researchers could take out plants twice and examine the roots for evidence of pests.
“We are excited to see significant growth differences among the treatments,” Westphal said, pointing out a row that was visibly shorter and less vigorous. “It amazed me. Three years after treatment, and it never grew back out of it.”
Work is still ongoing, but Westphal said he believes some chemical treatment could be available in the future to help reduce nematode pressure.
To deal with nematode populations, Westphal encouraged growers to sample soil and communicate with the diagnostic laboratory to determine what pest nematodes are in their vineyards, and then use that information for root stock selection.
“Growers should not forget the value of nematode-resistant rootstocks,” he said. “Plant material needs to be chosen very carefully when different species of nematodes are present.”
UCCE viticulture advisor emeritus George Levitt, left, chats with retired USDA breeder David Ramming at Grape Day 2017. -
UCR Research Showing How Nematodes Use Smell To Select New Insect Hosts Could Improve Biological Control Of Crop Pests
Riverside, Calif., (July 26, 2017) – Tiny eel-like creatures called nematodes are surrounding us. While they can be free-living (a cup of soil or seawater contains thousands), the most well-known nematodes are the parasitic kind that wreak havoc in people, animals and plants.
Despite their reputation, scientists at the University of California, Riverside are studying nematodes as a force for good: to kill insects that infect crops and trees.
In a paper published today in Scientific Reports, a team led by Adler Dillman, assistant professor of parasitology in UCR’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has shown how nematodes use smell to seek out uninfected insects, which they then enter and kill. The findings support the group’s long-term goal of improving how gardeners and the agricultural industry use nematodes in biological pest management.
Nematodes, which are transparent or milky white unsegmented worms between 0.1 and 2.5 millimeters long, represent a whopping 80 percent of all animal life on earth. The varieties that infect insects, such as the Steinernema carpocapsae species studied at UCR, enter their hosts through natural body openings, replicate, and secrete a deadly cocktail of proteins. These nematodes show promise as biological insecticides for more than 250 pests that attack plants such as corn, oranges, tomatoes, peaches, and pine trees.
Insects (like the larva shown in this figure) that have been infested with nematodes emit an odor called prenol that repels other nematodes seeking a host.
Insects (like the larva shown in this figure) that have been infested with nematodes emit an odor called prenol that repels other nematodes seeking a host. While previous research has shown that nematodes can differentiate between insects that have already been infected and those that have not, the mechanism by which this occurs has remained a mystery. In the current study, the researchers discovered that infected insects emit an odor called prenol that is repulsive to nematodes looking for a new host.
“The nematodes are using odors like prenol to identify insects that are already infested and therefore not worth infecting because they have depleted resources. Instead the parasites are more likely to choose insects that are not emitting prenol, since those represent untapped resources,” said Tiffany Baiocchi, a graduate student in Dillman’s lab and the lead author on the paper.
An unexpected plot twist was the team’s finding that some insect larvae are attracted to prenol, suggesting the same odor that signals nematodes to steer clear of an infected insect may also attract uninfected insects to that area.
“This is a cunning way of attracting new hosts for the generation of nematodes that will emerge from the infected insect cadaver. The way that nematodes can essentially engineer the recruitment of new insects toward them is certainly something we can exploit in our efforts to improve nematode-based biological control,” said Dillman, who is a a member of UC Riverside’s Institute for Integrative Genome Biology and the Center for Disease Vector Research.
The title of the paper is “Host Seeking Parasitic Nematodes Use Specific Odors to Assess Host Resources.” In addition to Dillman and Baiocchi, contributors include: Grant Lee, an undergraduate researcher, and Dong-Hwan Choe, an assistant professor in entomology, who used mass spectrometry to help identify the odors. The work as supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Below is a short video showing the life cycle of insect-killing parasites known as entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs).
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New Methods to Control Nematodes in the Field
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Joe Nunez shared the importance of controlling nematodes in the field at a recent grower meeting in the Central Valley. Watch Joe’s interview as he provides an update on the progress of his biological and chemical treatment trials for nematodes in the field. Read more in Vegetables West Magazine.
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Nematodes Break Resistance in CA Tomato Crops
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Growers want what they pay for when they grow tomato varieties with nematode-resistant genetics, but in recent years, they have been disappointed in still finding growing nematode pressures in the field as nematodes are breaking resistance in tomatoes and potentially other vegetable crops. Watch this video with UC Researcher Antoon Ploeg for an explanation of this phenomenon and read more about it in Vegetables West Magazine.