Potato Review

34 POTATO REVIEW JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 SEED TREATMENT Seed health quest drives kit investment Planting healthy seed is arguably the most important ingredient of successful crop production. Potato Review visited a specialist seed producer to see how recent kit investments are facilitating this at its Angus base. I N a production process that involves in nite variables, delivering large volumes of healthy seed crops isn’t always easy for Angus producer AJ Allan (Brechin) Limited. But a recent investment in seed tuber treatment application equipment is signi cantly helping. Based on the edge of Brechin, AJ Allan – a subsidiary of the Irish breeder IPM Potato Group – is a specialist seed producing business, producing around 7,200 tonnes each year, both under contract to IPM, McCain and Agrico, and for the free-buy market. It hits these markets early, starting harvest in September and striving to nish by October 10th, by which time grading and bagging for export to Middle Eastern countries and the Canary Islands is well underway. ese exports represent around 40% of its production, with the remaining 60% sold domestically. e business takes some mini tubers for multiplication, but the bulk of its input comes in as pre-basic generations two or three (PB 2-3). Seed lots are then sold at basic eld generation four or ve (SE 4-5), with a trend towards fewer eld generations as the industry grapples with crop protection product losses and increasing pest and disease pressure. WilliamReekie, who manages about 165ha of seed crops each year for AJ Allan (Brechin) Limited, said the new kit ensures accurate and safe application of fungicides which control storage disease like dry rot, then ahead of planting seed-borne diseases like black scurf, giving subsequent crops the cleanest start possible. He says another trend is increasing requests for a liquid seed tuber treatment from both overseas and domestic customers, with Gavel (imazalil) applied as a base coat to most seed orders at rst grading. is o ers protection against storage diseases like dry rot, gangrene, skin spot and silver scurf. “We don’t treat into store now because we are growing robust varieties and harvesting early and in good conditions, so disease risk isn’t high,” he said. Positive ventilation About 2,000t of the rm’s 8,000t of storage is positively ventilated, which helps dry and cure crops e ciently and further reduce storage disease risk as part of an integrated management approach. “ e positive ventilation and Gavel treatment are particularly important for export seed. In some cases, there is only four weeks between harvest and bagging: it’s critical for things to be right before going into a shipping container,” William said. On top of storage disease protection, domestic customers also want pre-planting tuber treatments like RhiNo ( utolanil) andMaxim ( udioxanil) – which predominantly target seed- borne Rhizoctonia – applied at source. William says the business also treats its own input stocks ahead of planting. Historically, powders like Monceren (pencycuron) would be used, but after it was withdrawn in 2020, it has predominantly shifted to liquid treatment. To ensure that these are applied in the best way possible, AJ Allan invested in a TEAMCTC2 Air Treatment Canopy, which has variable speed rotating twin nozzles with air assist fans, and is fed by a variable speed roller table. “It has made the whole process much cleaner, simpler, and safer for the operators and we know that the twin rotating nozzle system gives us phenomenal coverage. We also added a direct injection system, which has taken standards up another notch,” said William. Seed at AJ Allan’s Brechin base is split graded before treatment with its Team CTC2 hooded applicator with twin rotating nozzles, ensuring an even flow through the treatment area for accurate dosing