Agronomy Week 2020 - Thursday

Programme

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Thursday 3 December (potatoes)

9am – 10:30am: Live stream – How to use new technologies and new approaches in potato production (Agronomists' Induction)

Chair: Dr Anne Stone, Knowledge Transfer Manager (Potatoes), AHDB
Speaker: Claire Hodge, Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager (Potatoes - Scotland), AHDB

11am – 12:30pm: Live Stream - Preventing, detecting and controlling nematodes

Chair: Alex Wade, Knowledge Exchange Manager (Potatoes - West, South West & Wales), AHDB
Speakers:
- Dr Roy Neilson, Rhizosphere ecologist, James Hutton Institute
- Craig Chisholm, Nematicide Stewardship Programme (NSP) and Corteva Ltd.
- Grace Choto, Knowledge Exchange Manager (Horticulture), AHDB

More info

Dr Roy Neilson will highlight results of preliminary experiments that suggest a link between root damage to potatoes from plant-parasitic nematode and infection by blackleg.

These results have formed the basis of a multi-partner research project which he will outline.

Best4Soils is a European Union Horizon 2020 project which combines the work of many nematologists. Together they have created a database showing which crops, including cover crops, host which parasitic nematodes. It also illustrates the extent of damage to each crop from each species of nematode.

The Nematicide Stewardship Programme (NSP) has been the main driver for improved safety in use of granular nematicides, which is a vital part of retaining approvals for these products. Craig Chrisholm will explain what growers and agronomists can do and need to do as part of stewardship, and what help the NSP offers.

Programme:

11.00: Introduction - Alex Wade
11.05: The connection between nematodes and blackleg - Roy Neilson
11.25: Best4Soils crop and nematode database - Grace Choto
11.40: The nematicide stewardship programme - Craig Chrisholm
11.55: Questions and panel discussion
12.15: summary and conclusion - Alex Wade
12.20: Close

2pm – 3:30pm: Live Stream - Aphids and virus control

Chair: David Wilson, Knowledge Exchange Manager (Potatoes - East Anglia), AHDB
Speakers:
- Jane Thomas, NIAB
- Brice Dupuis, Agroscope

More info

Dr Jane Thomas, an entomologist, has completed the first season of field research on methods to control PVY transmission by aphids. With high aphid pressure at the trial site at NIAB Cambridge, the treatments have been given a severe challenge. If a treatment can keep out viruses in these conditions it will be exciting. We’ll have to contain our excitement for a little longer as the results aren’t back from the lab, but they will be in time for the Jane to make sense of them before Dec 3rd. In spite of high temperatures at application the mineral oil sprays used in the trial did not cause any leaf browning or necrosis, which has been observed previously in similar work.

Dr Brice Dupuis has a strong international reputation from his research on potato virus transmission. He will describe aphid control on seed potatoes in Europe. Not wanting to make agronomists in Britain salivate after methods which can’t be used here, he has asked for details of current and potential approvals in order to understand our constraints. Brice and his collaborators have recognised the need for a combination of chemical and non-chemical methods, an approach assisted by their research.

Programme:

14.00: Introduction - David Wilson
14.05: The NIAB aphid and virus control experiment 2020 results - Jane Thomas
14.25: Control of aphids and virus in Europe - Brice Dupuis
14.45: Panel discussion
15.00: Conclusion - David Wilson
15.10: Close

4pm – 4:30pm: Pre-recorded - PhD showcase: Pratylenchus (root lesion nematodes)

Chair: Dr Anne Stone, Knowledge Transfer Manager (Potatoes), AHDB
Speakers: Valeria Orlando

5pm – 6:30pm: Live Stream - Late blight: genotypes and resistant varieties

Chair: Dr Anne Stone, Knowledge Transfer Manager (Potatoes), AHDB
Speakers:
- Dr David Cooke, James Hutton Institute
- Dr Jack Vossen, Wageningen University and Research
- David Wilson, Knowledge Exchange Manager (Potatoes - South East), AHDB

More info

Dr David Cooke's information will, as usual, be hot from the lab for this AHDB event agronomy week, agronomists are the first to learn about the seasonal picture of genotypes and fungicide sensitivity across Great Britain. Dr Cooke also hopes to touch on how variety affects population change in the pathogen.

Dr Jack Vossen has an excellent international reputation in relation to the genetic resistance of potatoes to late blight. His presentation will include sources of resistance genes, and difficulties in incorporating these in varieties fit for the market. He will describe the field performance of varieties with single gene resistance and the breakdown of that resistance. He will address alternative sources of resistance and breeding methods for the future.

At the Eurofins site in Darbyshire, AHDB had a demonstration of the effect of varietal resistance. 12 varieties with resistance scores against foliar blight ranging from 2-9 were planted in two blocks, one with a strong fungicide programme and the other with a short, basic one. AHDB's David Wilson will describe the results, both for late blight and Alternaria blight.