| Arable
Look out now for Verticillium stripe in the field
Some crops will be showing signs of premature ripening at this point .
S uch symptoms can be due to a number of diseases , but Verticillium stripe ( previously known as Verticillium wilt ) is one that should be noted . “ It is worth going out to inspect crops and see if this disease can be found ,” says Neil Groom , Technical Director of Grainseed .
“ If you have Verticillium in your soils , it can be there for over 20 years and the only way to live with it is to grow a variety which has good Verticillium resistance or tolerance . You have no other choice . Using crop intervals or rotations is impractical and there are no approved chemicals . If you don ’ t grow a resistant variety , you will have to suffer the consequences in future years . We suggest that those who are seeing Verticillium stripe now or in the past few years make a proactive decision to grow a resistant variety this autumn .”
ADAS report that Verticillium stripe symptoms are seen as the crops starts to ripen . What to look out for are yellowing leaves , premature ripening of branches and grey striping down stems , often on one side only but it can be the whole cross-section of a stem . Underneath the vertical stripes , if you peel off the outer stem layer you will see grey vascular tissue . If you use a hand lens , you can see tiny black dots or microsclerotia . The microsclerotia survive in the soil for over 20 years to infect subsequent crops , hence the impractical nature of crop intervals in its control .
“ To control it sustainably , you must use resistant varieties ,” says Neil . “ Once you have identified Verticillium , you need to start thinking seriously about how to handle it . Unlike other diseases of rape , there is no proven or approved fungicide to control it and so growers must rely on cultural control measures – and the only one you really have open to you is to choose varieties with known resistance . Grainseed oilseed rape varieties including Es Mambo have proven resistance to Verticillium , following several years ’ independent trials and commercial experience .”
Neil advises growers to grow rape varieties with a good overall combined disease resistance . “ In cereals you don ’ t think twice about studying disease resistance ratings in detail before choosing your variety . This needs to be the same for rape varieties now . A good variety needs to have resistance to Verticillium , Phoma , as well as to Light Leaf spot . Es Mambo has a 7.8 rating for Phoma stem canker and a 6.4 for Light Leaf spot plus it is the Number 1 performing variety in AICC Verticillium trials . Es Alegria has a 7.4 rating for Phoma , 5.4 for Light Leaf spot and has good tolerance to Verticillium as well . Genetic resistance to Phoma in all Grainseed varieties is multi-gene and so unlikely to break down .”
When growers are looking more closely at their growing costs , choosing a variety such as Mambo where you can be sure of its strong disease resistance across the board can save you money , says Neil .
Verticillium stripe symptoms
“ Mambo also shows exceptional autumn vigour , helping the crop grow away from diseases and pests , increasingly important with the pressure of cabbage stem flea beetles at planting . It also has good oil levels of 46 %. As a variety it gives growers peace of mind with its strong broad disease resistance , its low biomass and its vigour characteristics .”
In the future AHDB is looking to assess and rate susceptibility of a range of varieties to Verticillium and these could be added to the published listings in 2020 .
Azotic Technologies Envita ™ launching commercially in North America in autumn 2018
BBC acknowledges Azotic in World news broadcast .
A zotic Technologies , the UK-based global ag-tech company , is launching its Envita™ naturalnitrogen fixing technology commercially across North America in autumn 2018 following extensive trials , under the Envita™ Growing Programme , across approximately 3,000 acres involving 58 farmers growing either corn or soybeans . Feedback from the growers and the initial results from these trials are extremely encouraging .
Envita™ is a naturally occurring food grade bacteria ( Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus ) that enables plants to fix nitrogen from the air and replace up to 50 per cent of
12 | Farming Monthly | July 2018
their nitrogen needs as an alternative to fertiliser . It is environmentally-friendly , costreducing and is also proven to increase crop yields .
Commercialisation of rice in Asia is also on the company ’ s agenda . Three rice trials have recently been carried out in Vietnam ; the overall response was a mean average 15 % yield increase across all the field trials . Further rice trials are being carried out in Vietnam , Thailand and the Philippines .
Azotic was founded in 2012 to commercialise the technology discovered initially nearly 20 years ago by Professor Edward Cocking , Fellow of the Royal Society and Director at the Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation at the University of Nottingham .
Peter Blezard , CEO of Azotic , said : “ The Envita™ Growing Programme trials were highly encouraging , still with some verification of the results to come . This should prove beyond all doubt the efficacy of our revolutionary technology in making crops nitrogen-fixing and with the resulting increased yields .”
The official commercial launch of Envita™ will be at the Agriculture 4.0 conference in San Francisco on 15th and 16th November 2018 , where Azotic ’ s CEO Peter Blezard has been invited to make a keynote speech to 2000 delegates entitled “ Nature ’ s nitrogen will fix planet ’ s food needs ”.
Azotic North America is responsible for commercialisation in the US and Canada . Ray Chyc , CEO of Azotic North America based in Guelph , Canada , said : “ Azotic ’ s technology is world-class - it increases yield while providing a significant positive environmental impact , as well as contributing in a major way to solving the issue of global scarcity of food .
“ Azotic ’ s technology will change global agricultural practice in the years to come .”
On 8th June 2018 , BBC World Service featured Azotic in major coverage entitled ‘ Making food crops that feed themselves ” https :// www . bbc . co . uk / news / busin ess-44357673
The accompanying BBC broadcast is at https :// www . facebook . com / bbc news / videos / 2005856056100177 /
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