21
F
Sof t F
r
ui t Confe
r
ence
F
Accuratediagnosisof diseases
T
h
e accu
r
ate diagnosis of plant diseases is one of t
h
e keys
to successful c
r
opp
r
oduction. At t
h
e Inte
r
national Soft F
r
uit
Confe
r
ence,
h
eld in t
h
eNet
h
e
r
lands in Janua
r
y, And
r
eaDisco
of Eu
r
ofins Ag
r
o
(holland) outlined
t
h
e newDNA
Multiscan system
t
h
at
h
as been
added to t
h
e
Eu
r
ofinPlant
Docto
r
se
r
vice.
UsingDNA
tec
h
niques, ove
r
100 fungi and11
bacte
r
ia can be
accu
r
ately
detected. T
h
e
tec
h
nique gives
r
apid
r
esults and is
h
ig
h
ly sensitive. 13
c
r
oppackages a
r
e
available, including
one fo
r
st
r
awbe
rr
ies - one fo
r
bacte
r
ia cove
r
ing 11 o
r
ganisms
andone fo
r
10 fungi aimed at wate
r
-bo
r
ne infections suc
h
as
may be found in
r
un-off wate
r
. T
h
e use of t
h
eDNAMultiscan
is complementedbymo
r
e
t
r
aditional diagnostic
tec
h
niques f
r
om t
h
ePlant
Docto
r
se
r
vice top
r
ovide a
comp
r
e
h
ensive app
r
oac
h
.
Integratedpest
management (IPM)
T
h
e biological cont
r
ol of
pests anddiseases
h
as
been a key t
h
eme at all
p
r
evious Inte
r
national Soft
F
r
uit Confe
r
ences and 2017
was no exception.
Speaking specifically
about ap
h
ids in soft f
r
uit,
Ba
r
t Sels of Koppe
r
t
r
emindeddelegates t
h
at
g
r
eat ca
r
ewas needed to
integ
r
ate pesticideswit
h
t
h
e
use of biological cont
r
ol
agents. It was c
r
ucial,
h
e
said, to unde
r
stand t
h
e
r
esidual effects pesticides
may
h
ave on beneficial insects int
r
oduced into c
r
ops and t
h
e
need to c
h
eck t
h
e side effects. he encou
r
aged g
r
owe
r
s to
r
egula
r
ly c
h
eckwit
h
supplie
r
s’ tec
h
nical info
r
mation, suc
h
as
Koppe
r
t’s ‘side-effects tables’.
Ba
r
t also said t
h
at we can easily ove
r
look t
h
e
h
uge g
r
owt
h
potential of ap
h
id colonies; wit
h
possible
r
ates of 40%pe
r
day,
h
alving t
h
e
r
ate to 20%
gives a six-fold inc
r
ease in
numbe
r
s afte
r
10days.
P
r
ompt action is t
h
e
r
efo
r
e
needed fo
r
successful ap
h
id
cont
r
ol and even good c
r
op
scouting can be too late. To
h
elpwit
h
t
h
is p
r
oblem
Koppe
r
t
h
as developed
Ap
h
iscout, a newpa
r
asitic
waspmix.
Ap
h
iscout detects t
h
e ea
r
ly
signs of an ap
h
id infestation
and gives g
r
owe
r
s
r
eliable
info
r
mation about t
h
e co
rr
ect
r
elease st
r
ategy. T
h
e p
r
oduct
is amix of t
h
e pa
r
asiticwasps
Praon volucre, Aphidius
colemani, Aphidius ervi,
Aphelinus abdominalis,
and
ThE FrUITGrOWEr •
MArCh 2017
ef
r
uitg
r
owe
r
.co.uk
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r
national Soft F
r
uit Confe
r
ence 2017
