Comparison of shank- and drip-applied methyl bromide alternatives in perennial crop field nurseries.

摘要

Methyl bromide has been used extensively in open-field perennial crop nurseries to ensure the production of plants that are free of soilborne pests and pathogens. California regulations require that nursery stock for farm planting be commercially clean with respect to economically important nematodes. Under the terms of the Montreal Protocol, the use of methyl bromide by developed countries was phased out 1 Jan. 2005. Although the perennial nursery industry in the United States largely continues to use methyl bromide under critical use exemptions and quarantine/preshipment criteria allowed under provisions of the Montreal Protocol, nursery growers need viable alternatives to this fumigant. Two fumigation trials in perennial crop field nurseries with sandy loam and clay loam soils, respectively, were conducted to compare the efficacy of fumigants applied through standard shank-injection equipment or as emulsifiable compounds applied through drip irrigation equipment. In the garden rose (Rosa multiflora) nursery trial, nematodes were detected at planting in the untreated control, no-tarpaulin 1,3-dichloropropene+chloropicrin, and chloropicrin alone several months after treatment. Nematodes included root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne spp.) and stunt nematode (Tylenchorhynchus semipenetrans). At harvest 2 years later, root-knot nematode was detected in rose roots from untreated plots and plots treated with untarped 1,3-dichloropropene+chloropicrin, metam sodium, and chloropicrin alone. In the nut tree (Prunus spp.) nursery field trial, shank-injected treatments typically provided better nematode control than the same chemicals applied via the drip lines, although weed control and marketable trees were similar among treatments.