Carrot Review

FROM THE AHDB ... New approaches and ongoing research Dr Dawn Teverson, Knowledge Exchange Manager with AHDB, details some of the current work into IPM strategies and looks at the latest research into aphids and virus. DR DAWN TEVERSON Dawn joined AHDB in 2014, having began her career at the National Vegetable Research Station (now Warwick Crop Centre) as a plant pathologist. She has spent time working with subsistence farmers in the southern highlands of Tanzania, to find out how they manage their crop genetic resources to deal with the challenges of diseases in one season and drought in the next, and has always had an interest in helping growers to increase their productivity by greater understanding of natural resources. A HDB is working with carrot growers to identify new approaches to integrated pest management (IPM) and trial reports are expected to be made available shortly. Growers are increasingly being faced with fewer choices of seed treatments to control pests and diseases in carrot crops owing to the reduction in the number of plant protection products available. AHDB’s Strategic Centre for Field Vegetables – Carrots is based in Nottinghamshire at a site hosted by Freshgro and Tim Hardstaff. The host farm has been running a series of grower- led trials across the 2020 season to look at comparisons between the seed treatments BMox, Wakil and primed seed to identify which has performed best in terms of IPM. Results from the trials have shown that BMOX material started into growth fastest, with primed seed material being the second fastest and having the highest marketable yield. There were too few replicates to draw firm conclusions, according to results, but local carrot growers have already met and put forward areas of concern for grower-led trials that will be run in 2021. Research helps growers AHDB is currently funding research to help manage aphids in carrot crops, a situation that is exacerbated by the increasing loss of “Results from the trials have shown that BMOX material started into growth fastest.” 10 CARROT REVIEW JANUARY 2021