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How did the year 2009 turn out for you?
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Researchers look for methyl bromide alternatives
By Everett Brazil III, Southern Correspondent |
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Methyl bromide supplies are dwindling around the world, leaving the Florida fruit and vegetable industry with a handful of fumigants to replace it. How well these fumigants work and the best application methods are still in question, and University of Florida researchers have been looking at the results of fumigant test trials to clarify what works best for Florida crops.
Multiple fumigant trials are part of an ongoing project at the university’s Gulf Coast Research & Education Center in Balm, Fla., where researchers have been comparing alternative fumigant performances through combinations of shank, coulter and drip fumigation application methods.
“Much of our research involves not only the chemical fumigants themselves, but also the means in which to apply them,” said Joseph Noling, University of Florida nematology Extension specialist.
Noling has been working with Gulf Coast researchers to compare shank and drip fumigant applications.
Previous drip fumigation research indicated there were problems with the even distribution of the fumigants when applied with a single drip tape per bed, so scientists focused on using two tapes per bed, studying water and gas phase movements of the fumigants in the soil.
“In general, our work has shown that in fields with significant nematode pressure, there are distinct horticultural and fumigant benefits to using two drip tapes rather than one,” Noling said. “In preliminary research, drip fumigation with two tapes per bed has provided equal to, if not greater, yields and pest control to that of methyl bromide.”  |
  
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