Integrated pest management

Knowledge Exchange: Online events including four winter workshops and the inaugural Arable Scotland were coordinated with AHDB and FAS to promote IPM in addition to FAS agronomy events, podcasts and other media. Online events included interactive elements and films demonstrating RD2.1.6 fieldwork. Meetings with stakeholders and policy colleagues were used to promote RD2.1.6 outputs with an emphasis on the uptake of IPM by Scottish growers/farmers. IPM plans (NFU, Plant Health Centre) for broad acre crops and grasslands were developed and used to facilitate discussions between farmers, growers and advisers by highlighting areas for potential improvements in IPM adoption. Technical notes on integrated nutrient and pest management were produced for LEAF and three publications made available via the CSC website.

Soft Fruit IPM Toolbox: Tools, publications and resources to support IPM in raspberry, blueberry and other fruit crops have been identified, collated and summarised. These include information about i) soft fruit varieties that show resistance/tolerance towards pests and diseases, ii) pest monitoring tools and alternative pest control strategies, and iii) other IPM technical information and resources.

Cereal IPM Toolbox: Barley field trials demonstrated the relative value of varietal resistance to disease under different environmental conditions. The potential to reduce fungicide input in low disease pressure scenarios (e.g. late sown crops of disease resistant varieties) was shown in both spring and winter crops. Advice on tailored approaches to crop protection programmes was given at various online events.

Potato IPM Toolbox: A desktop App for deriving models for forecasting risk of crop disease using anomaly detection algorithms was made available for download. Results of RD2.1.6 work to examine the effects of agronomic factors including variety and irrigation on blackleg were presented at the AHDB Potato Showcase.  Species-specific primers have been developed for the four most prevalent Pratylenchus species prevalent in Scotland and beyond, relevant to a range of crops including potato, cereals and root vegetables.

Elicitors of plant defences provided effective control of Rhynchosporium and Ramularia when applied as seed treatments in winter barley. Elicitor seed treatments resulted in greater grain yield and could be incorporated into future IPM programme as a substitute for synthetic fungicides. Similarly, the first evidence of control of powdery scab in potato using commercially available elicitors was obtained, underpinning future research on possible IPM strategies for this intractable soil-borne and economically important disease.

Highlights:

Uptake of Integrated Pest Management: a collaboration between SEFARI researchers, NFU, NFUS, Voluntary Initiative and Scottish Voluntary Initiative developed IPM plans for broad acre crops and grasslands (available at NFU and Plant Health Centre). Completion of these IPM plans by members of quality assurance schemes, such as Red Tractor and Scottish Quality Crops, provides an opportunity to monitor and track changes in practice. A policy brief was written and key IPM messages were communicated.

Late blight IPM: A novel desk study was used to identify high-risk periods for potato tuber infection in situ which can be incorporated into future risk prediction systems/IPM programmes aimed to reduce the threat of tuber blight. A desktop app for deriving models for forecasting risk of crop disease using anomaly detection algorithms was made available for download and RD2.1.6 field trials demonstrated the efficacy of weather-based risk assessment for informing fungicide applications in practice.

Leveraged funding:

• Defra (£130k) Environmental Land Management - Integrated Pest Management Test and Trial. This project aims to assess the mechanisms required to enable farmers to incorporate IPM effectively into a land management plan (LMP), enabling recording of IPM public goods delivery. The project will provide a better understanding of the drivers of behaviour change, which will provide insight into how payment incentives could increase delivery of IPM public goods.

• Plant Health Centre (40k) Mapping information networks that influence farmer behaviours related to IPM adoption. This project looks to understand where growers and agronomists currently gather information to form their impression of pest and disease risk and inform their decision making on the need for interventions, pesticide or otherwise.
• Defra (€970k, SusCrop project ECOSOL) aims to integrate late blight and early blight control options including disease forecasting, varietal resistance, fungicides and alternatives to conventional pesticides and to demonstrate practical disease control.

Eight IPM themed events across Scotland were used to communicate key messages relating to the need to modify fungicide and insecticide programmes according to season, soil conditions, rotation and variety. The need for a holistic approach to pest management, from soils to fungicide usage was stressed. IPM practitioners were informed of the current and anticipated regulatory changes regarding pesticide availability. Key findings and issues were discussed with government policy makers and key stakeholders such as Scottish Quality Crops Ltd and the Voluntary Initiative.

A method for assessing uptake of IPM practices on arable farms was devised through collaboration with research institutes in England, Ireland and Northern Ireland. This ‘IPM metric’ was based on the expert opinion of c. 50 stakeholders and was tested in farmer survey for which over 200 responses were collected. The survey results showed that level of adoption of IPM practices varied over the sample. All had adopted IPM to some extent but only 6% of farmers had adopted more than 85% of what is theoretically possible, as measured by the new metric. This metric could be a viable and cost‐effective method to facilitate the benchmarking and monitoring of national IPM programmes, including National Action Plans for the Sustainable Use Directive, in temperate arable farming systems.

Research on risk modifiers in wheat and barley this year demonstrated the significant role of weather in disease development: the harsh winter and dry spring curtailed disease development. Research on risk modifiers for late blight in potatoes led to recommendations being made based on varietal resistance for both leaf and tuber blight. Workshops and surveys supported the notion that there is a perceived risk associated with high levels of IPM adoption. Unless this risk is shared amongst others in the supply chain then high levels adoption may not be economically feasible for the farmer.

The influence of different environmental factors on the barley disease Ramularia leaf spot was analysed and increased rainfall and temperature were significant drivers of disease progression and will be studied in more detail in controlled environment work. Work on the importance of other stages in the life cycle on epidemic progression are under way. A guide and video to identifying symptoms in the field was produced in conjunction with AHDB and articles on Ramularia were published in the farming press.

Products which elicit plant defence pathways (i.e. elicitors) and therefore have the potential to protect plants against disease development, were tested in cereal and potato crops. In barley the value of these elicitors, particularly in a reduced rate fungicide programme, to manage diseases such as ramularia and powdery mildew was demonstrated. In potatoes, elicitors were shown to have potential to control powdery scab and to reduce root galling. Working with manufacturers has granted access to novel biological alternatives to synthetic pesticides that are currently approaching, the market.

Potato Toolbox: The “Hutton criteria” for forecasting risk of late blight was validated through field trials and comparison with other available models. The Decision Support System (DSS) was promoted through various industry focused events. Oilseed rape toolbox: IPM solutions for the control of clubroot showed that the clubroot population in the UK is very diverse so it's not sensible to rely solely on current varietal resistance for control. A recommendation to only use resistant varieties in fields known to have clubroot issues was made as overuse of these varieties will hasten the breakdown of resistance. The need to test soil and monitor the situation on farm was communicated to stakeholders. Cereal Toolbox: Factors such as sow date, seed rate and variety were shown to influence the need for fungicide in wheat and barley. Advice on tailored approaches to crop protection programmes has been amended and there has been an uplift in the varietal disease ratings deployed by growers.

Highlights:

• Late Blight IPM: research has tested late blight management components including host resistance, disease forecasting, spore detection, inoculum sources and fungicide programmes in consultation with stakeholders. Reduced fungicide input applied to cultivars with high foliar blight resistance ratings gave good control of late blight under high disease pressure. Susceptibility to tuber blight has been recognised as a potential barrier to late blight IPM uptake and industry alerted. Recent work on tuber blight achieved a reduction in fungicide costs of 28% through use of host resistance in commercial practice.
• Potato Blackleg IPM: The use of bacteriophages as an option for potato blackleg disease control, where chemical use is not available gained traction. Field trials provided underpinning science to support a successful £800K Innovate UK application, in collaboration with biocontrol, agronomy and potato industry partners to move the research to commercial application with a potential estimated EU market size of £37M.
• IPM toolboxes for important Scottish crops are being assembled. There is evidence of on-farm pesticide reductions and uptake of alternative control methods in soft fruit. Over-reliance on pesticides in oilseed rape has led to declines in efficacy and therefore guidance on fungicide efficacy and resistance management has been developed. Building on results, targeted treatments through field mapping of disease has been supported by industry funding. Agrochemical companies are interested in developing seed treatments based on evidence generated from  field trials for elicitors to reduce clubroot and therefore decrease fungicide applications.
• Based on information showing the continued presence of a metalaxyl-M resistant lineage of P. infestans in Scotland, application of the fungicide reduced from 25,000Ha of treated potato in 2006 to 73Ha in 2016 (Scottish Pesticide Surveys Database, SCOPES). Similarly, we have reported evidence of insensitivity to the key fungicide Fluazinam, currently used to treat >90% of Scottish ware and 76% of Scottish seed crops (SCOPES) resulting in rapid changes to industry advice on use (e.g.Farmers Guide, Syngenta, Crop Protection Magazine, Farmers Weekly). These interventions prevented the use of ineffective products and the consequent crop losses and environmental impacts in the UK and internationally. Results are incorporated into updated 2018 FRAG-UK guidelines for optimising fungicide use.