Podcast about Crop Protection in Horticulture

Podcasts sind Audiodateien, meist im MP3-Format, die sich der Nutzer aus dem Internet herunterladen kann – vereinfacht ausgedrückt also „Radio zum Mitnehmen“. Insbesondere für den Einsatz in der Lehre mit Querverbindungen zur Praxis und Beratung stellt der Podcast ein sinnvolles Medium dar. Zum Themengebiet des Pflanzenschutzes im Gartenbau bietet die Forschungsanstalt für Gartenbau an der Hochschule Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWT) seit Juli 2008 einen wöchentlichen Podcast an (http://www.podcast.fagw.info), der nicht nur von der Zielgruppe der Studenten genutzt wird. Die bisher rund 80 verfügbaren Beiträge werden jeden Monat etwa 3000mal angehört bzw. heruntergeladen. Erste Umfragen im universitären Umfeld und an Technikerschulen haben gezeigt, dass die Nutzung von Podcasts im Unterricht befürwortet wird. Auch beim Blended-Learning, bei dem sich Präsenz- und E-Learning-Phasen abwechseln, wird der Podcast in Zukunft ein wichtiges, integratives Medium sein.A Podcast is an audio-file (mostly in MP3 file format), which can be downloaded from the Internet – in a nutshell you can say “Radio to go”. Especially for the use in Teaching, Practice and Advice Podcasts are an usefull medium. The Weihenstephan Research Centre for Horticulture at the University of Applied Science Weihenstephan-Triesdorf offers since July of 2008 for the Topic of “Crop Protection in Horticulture” a weekly Podcast (http://www.podcast.fagw.info) that is not only used by students. Every month about 3000 lessons are heared or downloaded from the website of the 80 units available presently. The use of Podcast as an element of Teaching will be approved according to a survey at the University of Applied Science Weihenstephan-Triesdorf and some horticulture-schools. Podcasts will also be an important part in blended learning, where face-to-face lessons with computer-mediated content are combined

Innovation and research in organic farming: A multi‐level approach to facilitate cooperation among stakeholders

A wider range of stakeholders is expected to be involved in organic research. A decision‐support tool is needed to define priorities and to allocate tasks among institutions. Based on research and management experience in organic research, the authors have developed a framework for experimental and research projects. The framework is based on a multi‐level approach. Each level is defined according to the directness of the innovation impact on the organic systems. The projects carried out for each level were assessed over a ten-year period. Two applications are presented: analysis of crop protection strategies in horticulture and plant breeding programmes. When combined with four development models of organic farming, this multi‐level analysis appears to be promising for defining research agendas

A Lignin-Rich Extract of Giant Reed (Arundo donax L.) as a Possible Tool to Manage Soilborne Pathogens in Horticulture: A Preliminary Study on a Model Pathosystem

Finding new sustainable tools for crop protection in horticulture has become mandatory. Giant reed (Arundo donax L.) is a tall, perennial, widely diffuse lignocellulosic grass, mainly proposed for bioenergy production due to the fact of its high biomass yield and low agronomic requirements. Some studies have already highlighted antimicrobial and antifungal properties of giant reed-derived compounds. This study aimed at investigating the potential of a lignin-rich giant reed extract for crop protection. The extract, obtained by dry biomass treatment with potassium hydroxide at 120◦C, followed by neutralization, was chemically characterized. A preliminary in vitro screening among several pathogenic strains of fungi and oomycetes showed a high sensitivity by most of the soilborne pathogens to the extract; thus, an experiment was performed with the model pathosystem, Pythium ultimum–zucchini in a growth substrate composed of peat or sand. The adsorption by peat and sand of most of the lignin-derived compounds contained in the extract was also observed. The extract proved to be effective in restoring the number of healthy zucchini plantlets in the substrate infected with P. ultimum compared to the untreated control. This study highlights the potential of the lignin-rich giant reed extract to sustain crop health in horticulture

Adaptation to climate change on arable farms in the Dutch province of Flevoland. An inventory for the AgriAdapt project

In Flevoland, arable farming is the most dominant land use. Adaptation options related to water, pests and diseases have been studied using a literature review. The green-blue zone Oostvaarderswold in Flevoland contributes to water storage, to nature conservation and to recreation. Compensation costs for structural wetting that are associated with various frequencies of flooding have been calculated. At inundation frequencies greater than once in 5 years, buying the agricultural land might be a better option than compensating for inundation damage or income loss. Various policies will have an effect on future agriculture in the province. A literature survey of spatial policy plans shows that urbanisation will increase and that some cities, like Almere, Lelystad, Dronten and Emmeloord, will continue to grow and expand. As a consequence, more inhabitants will require more space for nature and recreational activities, which in turn will lead to agricultural land being required

Fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J E Smith): incidence, host range and its management

The invasive fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) was reported for the first time on maize causing severe damage in Karnataka, India during May 2018. Thereafter, the pest has spread to most states of India and now reported from many south Asian countries. The biology under laboratory condition showed that the fecundity was 1064 eggs. Incubation, total larval and pupal period were observed from 2-3, 14-19 and 9- 12 days, respectively. The larval population varied during different growth stages of the crop on maize in Shivamogga and Davanagere districts during Kharif and Rabi seasons. Heavy population buildup of S. frugiperda in Karnataka on sorghum was recorded in Kalaburgi, Raichur, Koppal and Shivamogga districts in November and December months. The damage on maize during July 2018 to February 2019 varied between 20.0 to 80.0 per cent. The management practices like installation of pheromone traps, removal of eggs and use of two rounds of insecticides (Chlorantraniliprole, spinetoram and emamectin benzoate) were found to be effective in reducing the larval population and recorded higher yield. Efficacy of various aspects on S. frugiperda is discussed in this paper

Genetics of diapause in spotted stem borer, Chilo partellus (Swinhoe)

Diapause is an endocrine controlled arrested metabolic activity to delay development or reproduction under unfavorable conditions. To gain an understanding on importance of diapause for ecological adaptation, it is important to study diapause regulation in insects. We examined genetics of diapause in Chilo partellus using five parental populations viz., hibernating (HD), aestivating (AD), post-hibernating (PHB), post-aestivating (PAB), and nondiapause (ND) for making crosses in all possible combinations including reciprocals in a diallel fashion. Data were recorded on fecundity, egg hatching, larval survival, diapause induction and termination and adult emergence in the parents (P1, P2), F1 hybrids, and the reciprocal crosses. Genetic analysis showed that AD strain is general combiner, which also improved egg hatching, larval survival, diapause termination and adult emergence. The HD strain increased incidence of diapause in F1 hybrids. Incidence of diapause was highest in HD × AD, whereas termination was greatest in PHB × AD. However, ND strain and its reciprocal crosses with other strains did not exhibit any noticeable developmental response associated with diapause. Specific combining ability analysis revealed that pre-existence of PHD and ND or AD and PAD populations under unfavorable conditions might result in drastic reduction in active population, while co-existence of PHD and AD populations might reduce diapause incidence, increase survival and faster multiplication of their progenies resulting in outbreak of C. partellus. Degree of dominance estimates revealed that diapause and associated traits in C. partellus are governed by overdominance gene effects, and mainly depends on parental diapause history

Breeding for resistance to diseases and insect pests in grain legumes

Grain legumes are source of high-quality food and feed and their integration in the cropping systems provide multiple benefits for agriculture sustainability. They are being considered important to ensure food and nutritional security in the face of climate change. Diseases and insect pests are the main constraints in the quantity and quality of yield. This presentation focuses on chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.), which are mandate crops of ICRISAT and globally grown on 21.6 million ha, largely in the developing countries of Asia and Africa. The production and productivity of chickpea is severely constrained by diseases such as Fusarium wilt (FW, Fusarium oxysporum f sp ciceris), dry root rot (DRR, Rhizoctonia bataticola), Ascochyta blight (AB, Ascochyta rabiei) and Botrytis gray mold (BGM, Botrytis cinerea). In pigeonpea, Fusarium wilt (FW, Fusarium udum) and sterility mosaic disease (SMD) caused by pigeonpea sterility mosaic virus (PPSMV) are the most important diseases, while Phytophthora blight (PB, Phytophthora cajani) is an emerging important disease. Pod borer [Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner)] is the most important insect-pest of both the legumes. In addition, spotted pod borer [(Maruca vitrata (Geyer)] is also important in pigeonpea. Several varieties with high resistance to FW and AB have been developed in chickpea and FW and SMD in pigeonpea. Only moderate level of resistance is available for resistance to the remaining diseases and pod borers in the germplasm of cultivated species. Comparatively, higher levels of resistance have been observed for some of these diseases and pod borers in wild species and are being exploited in breeding programs. Transgenic resistance using insecticidal genes has been developed to achieve high level of resistance to pod borer in both the legumes. Numerous genes/quantitative trait loci (QTL) conferring resistance to key diseases have been mapped and markers linked to some of these have been validated. Use of novel sources of resistance and novel breeding techniques (marker-assisted selection, speed breeding) are being used to accelerate development of improved varieties with enhanced resistance to diseases and insect pests. Availability of such varieties will improve yield stability and production of these grain legumes and contribute to food and nutritional security and sustainable food production

Effect of varied weather parameters and different sowing dates on the incidence of insect pest in chickpea

It is important to identify genotypes with resistance varied sowing windows. Therefore, evaluated a five diverse genotypes for resistance to H. armigera for three years over four sowing window. More number of eggs were observed in 2012 than in 2013 and 2014. Highest numbers of eggs were recorded in the crop sown in October in cumulative three seasons. Among the genotypes tested, ICC 3137 had the highest number of H. armigera eggs (11.6) across the seasons. The lowest number of H. armigera eggs was observed on JG 11 (6.3) in 2012, on ICCV 10 (3.6) in 2013. The H. armigera larvae were highest in October sown crop (80.7) and lowest in the January sown crop (21.1) in 2014-15. The larval incidence decreased from October to December but increased in the January. Greater numbers of cocoons were recorded in the December sown crop (3.4) in 2012-13.However highest number of cocoons were recorded on ICC 3137 (2.5) and lowest on KAK 2 (1.6). The maximum temperature and minimum temperature shows a significant negative and positive correlation with H. armigera larvae population for October and November sown crop. Multiple regression analysis of the H. armigera, S. exigua eggs and larval population showed a significant interaction with weather parameters during all cropping seasons. The coefficient of multiple determinations (R2) was varied per cent during across different seasons for H. armigera, S. exigua populatio

Crop protection in horticulture : How to rescue growers from punishment for shortfall of control agents?

The EU and its Member States have been working on reducing the use and risk of pesticides for decades. This has largely been achieved by regulating the authorisation of pesticides under Directive 91/414/EEC and Regulation (EC) 1107/2009. Consequently, the number of active ingredients authorised for pest and disease control in ornamental crops (e.g. flowers) has dramatically decreased. Now, growers face a shortfall of control options, and there are growing numbers of reports on unlawful use of pesticides in ornamental crops. The Food Inspection Authorities try to change this by imposing fines on these growers. Furthermore, retail companies start to impose restrictions on pesticide residues on ornamental products. In case of exceeding they reject the products supplied. On the one hand, the growers are thus justifiably punished for unlawful use of pesticides. On the other hand, their violations indicate that growers find themselves in a desperate position. The question is how this unsatisfactory situation can be solved. The objective of this paper is to improve understanding of the positions and interests of the involved parties in relation to pesticides and pest control. We therefore study how pesticide use in ornamental crops is framed by the various parties involved. Furthermore, power relations in both the knowledge and value chain are studied. Examples of framing pesticide use are: my pests are difficult to control, surface water quality is below standards, working in greenhouses should be safe, authorisation of control agents is too expensive, ornamental crops should be safe for consumers, chemical pesticides close the door to biological control agents, growers should apply decision support systems. These examples illustrate the frictions among the parties on the playing field of crop protection. The aim is to explore some options for sustainable development of crop protection in floriculture. Our suggestion is that new interactions and initiatives have to be developed between flower growers, value chain partners and/or knowledge partners. Bringing partners together for collective action under a national agreement or in a publicprivate partnership for plant health research are considered to be the most promising options. The lesson learned is that social innovation needs special attention in governance of sustainable crop production