| Arable
Pregnancy test science could
protect the Christmas sprout
The science behind the home-pregnancy test is now being trialled to detect the presence of diseases, which can
devastate fields of vegetable crops, including the Christmas sprout.
urrent trials are underway to
help protect crops of Brassicas
– sprouts, broccoli, cabbage –
and onions, which generated
more than £356 million for UK
agriculture last year. Diseases
including ring spot, light leaf spot and downy
mildew are being monitored.
Ring spot in Brassicas is a foliar disease,
which if not treated can lead to the loss of 30
per cent of crop.
The test, known as a lateral flow device
(LFD), picks up the presence of infective spores
carried in the air around crops in the field. Used
alongside weather data, test results could
indicate how likely a disease is to develop,
allowing growers to decide if crop protection
methods are needed or not.
Further development work is underway, so
growers can gain immediate results, without
needing to send samples to laboratories for
further testing. The project is the result of an
industry partnership between growers, AHDB
Horticulture, Warwickshire College and
Mololgic Ltd.
AHDB Senior Scientist Cathryn Lambourne,
said: “When it’s fully developed this simple low-
cost tool, allowing growers to test whether
there is a risk of diseases developing on their
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14 | Farming Monthly | January 2018
crops, will help prevent significant financial
losses and reduce the need to use
conventional methods to protect their crops.
“Over the last four years we’ve been
developing the lateral flow device test,
demonstrating how simple and effective it is, to
give growers the confidence to rely on the
results and make appropriate decisions for their
business.”
Carl Sharp Agronomist at the Allium and
Brassica Centre, said: “This could be a big
game changer for growers. If we can get kit like
this developed to take out with us, within ten
minutes of walking into a field, growers will
have results which show what they need to do
to protect their crops.”
Downy mildew in onions can cause damage
of up to 50 per cent of individual crops if severe
and, in a particularly bad year, the whole
industry could see crop losses of up to 25 per
cent. This same disease could wipe out a
whole field of salad onion, with one hectare
worth around £30,000.
Euan Alexander, Kettle Produce, Field
Operations Manager added: “The long period
between the disease affecting the crop and the
symptoms appearing, which are a
characteristic of many of the diseases tested,
can lead to devastating diseases becoming
established in crops turning them into waste.
“Using these tests will allow us to select the
appropriate fungicide and time application as
part of our crop management strategy, before
the disease renders any of the crops
unmarketable.”
In addition to the common pregnancy test,
LFDs are used to detect human diseases
including colo-rectal cancer, cardiac issues and
drug abuse screening.
The LFD tests are also being developed to
detect for other plant diseases. The AHDB