VATIS UPDATE Article

Gas company BOC, in conjunction with the CSIRO and LZD Czech Republic, has developed a new soil fumigant that has shown efficacy comparable to the formerly used methyl bromide. The CSIRO, DPI Victoria and BOC’s field studies with EDN Fumigas (Ethanedinitrile) have shown it to be effective on soil pathogens and weeds. The Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA) is expected to approve registration shortly.

EDN Fumigas is a broad spectrum fumigant that is highly toxic to insects, weeds, nematodes and soil-borne pathogen. An efficacy soil fumigation study under APVMA trial permit was conducted by BOC at a customer site growing strawberry fruit crop in Palmview, Queensland. This site had been experiencing severe charcoal rot disease. Six beds, with a sandy soil type, measuring 90m long and 0.65m width were selected for the study. Three beds were applied with EDN Fumigas at the rate of 50g/m2 at 5cm depth using drip application method and another three beds were used as a control.

Prior to application all the soil beds were covered with low density polyethylene plastic sheet. Soil samples were collected from both the trial and control beds before application of the EDN Fumigas and 14 days after application using standard procedure. The samples were then sent to SARDI, Urrbrae, South Australia for analysis. Fourteen days after fumigant application, no colony forming units of the target soil borne pathogen was found in the EDN Fumigas applied beds while it was found in the control beds.