[nafex] FW: Biocontrol of peach pest

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information
distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get the
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www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: isjd@ars-grin.gov.
* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648.
----------
From: "ARS News Service" <isjd@ars-grin.gov>
To: "ARS News List" <ars-news@ars-grin.gov>
Subject: Biocontrol of peach pest
Date: Tue, Aug 28, 2001, 3:22 AM


STORY LEAD:
Lowly Ring Nematode Suppressed with Biological Control

___________________________________________

ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Jim Core, (301) 504-1619, jcore@ars.usda.gov
August 28, 2001
___________________________________________

A beneficial bacterium and soil solarization are an effective biological
control combination against a ring nematode species wreaking havoc on peach
trees in the southeastern United States, an Agricultural Research Service
plant pathologist reports.

The beneficial bacterium, Pseudomonas sp (BG33R), was isolated in the early
1990s from soil that was known to suppress the ring nematode (Mesocriconema
xenoplax) in South Carolina, according to Andrew Nyczepir of the ARS
Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Byron, Ga. The
bacterium was isolated by Daniel Kluepfel and Jane Lawrence of Clemson
University, Nyczepir's colleagues in this research. BG33R was first shown
to inhibit M. xenoplax reproduction under laboratory and greenhouse
conditions.

Soil solarization is a special mulching method that uses a transparent
plastic covering to trap the sun's heat, according to Nyczepir. After
months of sunny weather, many soil microorganisms are suppressed. This
disinfestation method gives beneficial bacteria, such as BG33R, a
competitive edge by lowering the native population of bacteria and killing
harmful pests like the ring nematode. Soil that has been solarized also
allows plants to draw on nutrients more readily.

Introducing BG33R after solarization treatment will help reduce the
dependence on nematicides--pesticides used specifically to manage or
prevent damage caused by nematodes, according to Nyczepir. He has searched
for alternatives to chemical control of the ring nematode in the past, and
has used other biological controls such as crop rotation or ground covers
to suppress the pest.

Nyczepir and Kluepfel found that combining BG33R and soil solarization in
peach orchard field plots resulted in ring nematode populations at or below
nematicide treatment thresholds for about 18 months, unlike unsolarized
plots.

Nyczepir first demonstrated that this species of nematode was a key
component to peach tree short-life disease (PTSL), which causes peach tree
losses estimated at over $6 million a year in South Carolina alone. The
PTSL disease complex occurs when ring nematodes cause trees to weaken,
leaving them vulnerable to such factors as cold injury, bacterial canker or
both.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency. The Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Laboratory is on the
web at:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/ars/SoAtlantic/Byron/seftnrl
___________________________________________

This item is one of the news releases and story leads that ARS Information
distributes on weekdays to fax and e-mail subscribers. You can also get the
latest ARS news on the World Wide Web at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/thelatest.htm.
* Feedback and questions to ARS News Service via e-mail: isjd@ars-grin.gov.
* ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Room 1-2251, Beltsville MD
20705-5128, (301) 504-1617, fax 504-1648.




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