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Research Projects
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Fruit Fly
We are developing sustainable management strategies for key
pests in vegetables including tomatoes and cucurbits.
 Cucurbits
Utilization of Living Mulches to Suppress Cucurbit Pests
Cucurbit plantings in tropical and sub-tropical regions are severely impacted
by a diverse assemblage of major agricultural pests
including the melon aphid Aphis gossypii Glover and silverleaf whitefly Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring. As much as 80% of the crop
can be lost if cucurbit plants are left untreated. In the past, growers have
used prophylactic insecticide sprays to prevent total crop loss but
insecticide resistance and the inability of insecticides to control vectors of
insect transmitted viruses have forced many growers to look at alternatives
that offer a more sustainable approach to pest management. Reflective and
biodegradable mulches have been successfully used to reduce aphid-borne
viruses in squash and other crops. However, disposal of reflective mulch and
weathering of biodegradable mulch have made these alternatives problematic.
This study will build upon previous research and continue to investigate the
use of living mulches in cucurbit plantings as a sustainable tactic for
managing herbivorous pests and their associated plant impairments.
Objectives
- To
investigate the effects of living mulch on populations of homopterous pests,
and their associated natural enemies in zucchini.
- To
compare conventional mulching techniques (white plastic) with contemporary
techniques (reflective mulch) and living mulch to determine their impact on
homopterous pests and marketable yields of zucchini.
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Assess the impact of plant mixtures on zucchini marketable yields
If mechanisms of pest suppression with living mulch in cucurbits could be
understood, this system could be used as a model to design pest management
programs in other crops, thus significantly reducing the reliance on
insecticides for management of key agronomic pests.
One of the major discoveries made during the first phase (2006) of investigating synthetic and living mulches with and without a reduced-risk insecticide was the identification of the cucurbit leaf crumple virus (CuLCV) in experimental plots in Citra, Florida (Polston et al. personal communication). This virus disease was found infesting > 50% of the squash plants in plots without reflective mulch and Admire 2F. This disease has never been reported in Florida. One of our goals during 2007 is to work with state and county agents to survey cucurbit growers in Florida to quantify the magnitude of this disease problem. We will visit the major cucurbit growers and collect leaf samples with symptoms that resemble CuLCV. Samples will be sent to Dr. Polston laboratory for processing and DNA sequencing. The long-term goal is to catalog and report areas within the state that have the virus. In addition, we would like to develop appropriate management strategies to decrease the incidence of this disease.
Papers and Presentations
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