Project Details
Description
Over 100 different vegetable crops are grown annually throughout the state of New Jersey. In 2002, thirty-three thousand acres (representing only the top 17 vegetable crops grown on a per acre basis in the state) of fresh-market vegetables were grown with a farm gate value of over 125 million dollars. Seven thousand acres of processing vegetables are also grown annually for processing plants in New Jersey with an estimated farm gate value of over 6 million dollars. The vegetable crops grown in New Jersey help feed over 60 million Americans who live in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern regions of the United States. Vegetable crops must be grown economically and efficiently in order for New Jersey vegetable growers to compete in the larger US and international marketplace. Growers rely on integrated pest or best management practices which incorporate different production and cultural practices to help control insects, weeds and plant disease. Vegetable disease is the largest limiting factor to successful vegetable production in New Jersey. Without proper disease management strategies, annual losses to vegetable disease would be in the tens of millions of dollars annually. Therefore, integrated disease management strategies for vegetable crops must be continually evaluated and developed in order to help reduce potential losses to disease and to allow New Jersey vegetable growers to produce crops efficiently and economically.Fungicide applications are necessary for the proper control of many important diseases in vegetable crop production in New Jersey. Without their use, it would not be economically feasible to grow many vegetable crops in the state. For example, without fungicide applications for powdery mildew control it would not be economically feasible to produce the over 6,000 A of cucurbit crops grown annually for fresh-, commercial wholesale, or roadside markets in New Jersey. Powdery mildew and downy mildew are the most destructive diseases of pumpkin and other cucurbit crops in the United States. Fungicide applications (and in some cases host resistance) are the principle practices followed by most farmers for managing powdery mildew and downy mildew. In recent year's new fungicide chemistries have been introduced for the control of both diseases. These new chemistries, although highly effective at controlling the pathogens, have a high risk for the development of resistance by the pathogen. Powdery-mildew resistance to FRAC [Fungicide Resistance Action Committee] code 11 fungicides (i.e., strobilurins) as well as FRAC code 3 fungicides (i.e., triazoles) has been reported in the US and other countries. Additionally, fungicide resistance in cucurbit downy mildew (as well as basil downy mildew) has also been reported in newer fungicides labeled for their control in recent years. Such that control of these diseases with some fungicide chemistries has been greatly reduced suggesting that i) fungicide resistant pathogen populations are being introduced to the state from an outside source or ii) growers in New Jersey, through their current fungicide application programs, are allowing resistance to develop in their production fields. Importantly, once these pathogens develop resistance to these fungicides they may no longer effective in controlling the disease and any additional applications will no longer be effective. Determining which fungicide chemistries are effective and which are no longer effective against these diseases helps vegetable growers i) produce crops more economically; ii) eliminates unnecessary fungicide applications and help reduce potential environmental impacts; and iii) reduce the potential for fungicide resistance development.New Jersey is the third highest producer of fresh-market bell and non-bell peppers in the United States. Over 5,000 acres with an estimated value of over 30 million dollars are grown annually in the State. One of the most destructive soil-borne diseases of solanaceous (i.e., pepper, tomato, and eggplant) and cucurbit (i.e. pumpkin and summer squash) crops is phytophthora blight (Phytophthora capsici). In the US, losses to phytophthora blight exceed 100s of millions of dollars annually. The pathogen is one of the largest limiting factors in pepper and cucurbit production in New Jersey and in many other pepper and cucurbit production areas of the United States. In recent years phytophthora-tolerant bell pepper cultivars have been introduced to the market. Without the use of these cultivars, annual losses to phytophthora blight could be as high as 100% in some production areas of New Jersey. Since 1997, two commercial pepper cultivars with resistance or tolerance to phytophthora blight have been used extensively in New Jersey. These two cultivars in the past have represented over 40% of the bell pepper production acreage in New Jersey. Since their introduction to the market over a decade ago, their use is estimated to have saved over tens of million dollars in losses to phytophthora blight. In addition, in recent years, another important pathogen, bacterial leaf spot has become an increasing problem along with phytophthora blight in pepper production in New Jersey. Bacterial leaf spot, caused by Xanthomonas euvesicatoria, is now known to have up to 10 races which up until recently have only been found in the Southeastern US. In 2004, only 3 races (1, 2, 3) were present in New Jersey. Since that time, races 4, 5, 6, and 10 have been putatively identified in the State. Importantly, some of the most widely grown bell and non-bell peppers lack resistance packages that cover the current races of the pathogen in the State exposing growers to significant losses should an outbreak of bacterial leaf spot occur. In the past few years, new phytophtora-resistant bell peppers with resistance to all 10 races have been introduced for use in the southern US, however, these peppers haven't been evaluated for use in New Jersey for fresh-markets in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. In 2007, a new disease of basil, downy mildew caused by Peronospora belbahrii, was introduced into the US. Since then, significant losses have occurred in conventional and organic basil production throughout the US. Over 10,000 acres of sweet basil are grown each year in the US and 100% of these acres are at-risk to downy mildew because of the lack of genetic resistance in the crop and the limited number of fungicides available for use to help control the pathogen. Recently, fungicide resistance in P. belbahrii to mefenoxam has been reported in Europe. In order for basils of all types to be successfully grown in New Jersey, proper fungicide applications along with introduction and use of host resistance must become available to growers in the state.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 6/21/17 → 5/31/22 |
Funding
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture