A new strategy developed by AHDB to manage powdery mildew in strawberry crops could reduce inputs and costs by 50% compared with a standard seven-day fungicide programme.

In 2018 trials, a managed programme used significantly less spray applications, which reduced the cost by half compared to the standard 7-day fungicide programme. It was equally effective at maintaining control of powdery mildew.

Scott Raffle, knowledge exchange manager, AHDB, said: 'In contrast to the standard 7-day fungicide programme where all permitted numbers of applications of the products had been made by the end of the season, far fewer applications had been made and a number were still available should late infection require additional control.

'This will have a welcome benefit for growers' bottom line, but also has significant benefits for growers' integrated pest management programmes.'

A standard 7-day fungicide programme was compared to a managed programme which uses control products only when the strawberry crop is at risk of infection. It is based upon visual inspection for incidence of strawberry powdery mildew, the environmental risk of mildew infection (which used the NIAB EMR strawberry powdery mildew model based on temperature and humidity records) and the strawberry growth stage.

Growers can view the managed programme in practice at the WET Centre, a centre of excellence to develop new commercial water-saving techniques for precision irrigation and fertigation for soft fruit growers.

Tours of the WET Centre will take place at Fruit Focus, 17 July, East Malling.

The WET Centre, now co-funded by AHDB, is designed to help growers acquire and implement the learning into their business. Through practical demonstrations, it will create a platform to interact and improve their business. For further information please visit www.ahdb.org.uk. '

- Ends -

'

Notes to editors

WET Centre: http://www.thewetcentre.com/

The WET Centre is the UK's centre of soft fruit excellence, bringing together leading scientists and suppliers to enable growers to significantly improve crop performance and financial returns.

Reducing the amount of water needed to grow high-quality full-flavoured strawberries, while, at the same time, optimising the yield of the crop is now achievable, thanks to the work of the new Water Efficient Technologies (WET) Centre, developed at NIAB EMR.

Fruit Focus: For further details please visit http://www.fruitfocus.co.uk/

Fruit Focus brings together more than 2000 growers and industry professionals. Over 130 leading suppliers exhibit at Fruit Focus. It showcases all aspects of agronomy, machinery and equipment, business information, pre- and post-harvest technology, and marketing.

NIAB EMR: For further details please visit http://www.emr.ac.uk/

Plum Best Practice Guide can be found here: http://www.emr.ac.uk/projects/best-practice-guide-to-uk-plum-production/

AHDB is a statutory levy board, funded by farmers, growers and others in the supply chain. Our purpose is to inspire our farmers, growers and industry to succeed in a rapidly changing world. We equip the industry with easy to use, practical know-how which they can apply straight away to make better decisions and improve their performance. Established in 2008 and classified as a Non-Departmental Public Body, it supports the following industries: meat and livestock (cattle, sheep and pigs) in England; horticulture, milk and potatoes in Great Britain; and cereals and oilseeds in the UK. AHDB's remit covers 72 per cent of total UK agricultural output. Further information on AHDB can be found at www.ahdb.org.uk

Contact

For further information, contact Lauren Colagiovanni, Marcomms Manager Horticulture on 024 7647 8781 or lauren.colagiovanni@ahdb.org.uk

@AHDB_Hort

YouTube

horticulture.ahdb.org.uk