HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-03-16, Page 59Nature goes to bat for potatoes
Nature refuses to give in, but it can be persuaded to
help out from time to time. In fact, the use of nature
to fight its own shortcomings is guiding some impor-
tant research on potato protection at the federal
London Research Centre.
The potato is hardly an endangered species, but like
other crops it falls prey to pests, drought and disease.
Consumer demand for organic produce and concern
for the environment are spurring the hunt for alter-
natives to traditional farming practices which often
use costly chemical products to protect the potato.
Dr. Frank Marks, director of Agriculture and Agri -
Food Canada's research centre, says the goals of the
research programs are to develop environmentally
acceptable pest control methods and assess the en-
vironmental impact of farming methods.
"We work with our industry partners to find prac-
tical solutions to some pretty tricky problems," says
'Marks.
For instance, the Colorado potato beetle with its
legendary appetite is a sworn enemy of potatoes,
tomatoes and other commercially important plants.
Now, this scourge of field crops is finding itself on
the other end of the fork, thanks to the two -spotted
stinkbug which dines on beetle larvae. To be effec-
tive, the stinkbug has to be plentiful, but it does find
the potato beetle an attractive entree.
Work between the London centre and the University
of Guelph has seen the development and deployment
of a crack stinkbug team. At London, researchers
fine-tune mass rearing technology to crank out 30,000
stinkbugs, which confronted their quarry in field trials
at Guelph and London last summer.
At a density of about nine stinkbugs per plant,
defoliation by the beetle was a mere 14 per cent in
the release plots, compared to 44 per cent in the
untreated plots. This is the first time in Canada a
predator species has been shown to be effective in
controlling Colorado potato beetles.
On the other front, researchers are looking for a —
bacteria that live in the root zone, where they provide
a wealth of benefits to plant life. In particular, the
London scientists are examining a strain isolated from
onion roots at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.
The study team has developed an inoculant from the
naturally occurring bacteria. Potato plants treated with
the bacteria developed more quickly and survived
better than their untreated siblings. They were also
ready for harvest two weeks earlier and bore yields 10
per cent higher.
Moreover, the beneficial effects of the bacteria
become most evident when the crop is under stress.
Bacterial inoculants have been around for more than
50 years. They are inexpensive and can be easily
added to current potato production. The next step at
the London centre is to improve the effectiveness of
the bacteria and possibly incorporate into them,
natural and insect - and fungus fighting properties.
"Nature's dark side will always be with us," says
Dr. Marks, "but so, too, are its own creative solutions.
Finding and using them is key to sustainable produc-
tion."
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