Towards reduced reliance on fungicides for disease control in New Zealands cropbased industries

Abstract

The challenge faced by New Zealands fruit vegetable and arable sectors is to reduce the negative impacts of fungicides on market access environmental sustainability and consumer confidence while at the same time achieving adequate disease control for export market and international regulatory requirements Controlling diseases in a humid climate with ever increasing restrictions on agrichemicals and few effective alternatives to fungicides requires redesign of disease management systems Research into redesign includes improved resistance of crop cultivars improved understanding of microbial interactions between fungicides biological controls and nontarget microbes and completely novel methods based on molecular genetics Disease forecasting systems can improve the efficiency of fungicide use The success of new approaches must measured by a reduction in fungicide loading Success depends on the linking of new research to effective technology transfer that will give cropbased industries courage to try new methods and the confidence to know they are not risking their economic viability

A Review of Cultural Practices for Botrytis Bunch Rot Management in New Zealand Vineyards

“…In organic wine production, where synthetic fungicides are not allowed, the integration of these multiple strategies ensures effective BBR control and the production of premium quality wines keenly sought after by consumers. In contrast, the uptake of these strategies in conventional wine production has been arguably slow because of concerns about cost and reliability [ 18 , 30 ].…”

“…Biocontrol products, including antagonistic micro-organisms, natural products of mineral, plant or microbial origin and plant defence inducers have been recommended to reduce viticulture’s dependence upon synthetic fungicides for the last three decades [ 17 , 28 , 29 ]. However, many biocontrol authors would agree that uptake of biologically based strategies has been slow and reviews have identified variability in disease control and cost as significant barriers to uptake by vineyard managers [ 30 ]. While variability in disease control can be an issue, it has also been demonstrated that when the right combination of biocontrol products with different modes of action is well timed, BBR control was equal to that achieved with synthetic fungicide-based programmes [ 28 , 31 , 32 ].…”