VATIS UPDATE Article

Vegetable pathologist Anthony (Tony) Keinath, at Clemson University, the United States, ongoing research on Southern blight – a serious disease that kills tomatoes and more than 500 other crop and plant species – may soon result in a management strategy for vegetable growers that is designed to be effective, economical and environmentally safe.

Keinath is continuing to conduct field trials and laboratory research to determine the sensitivity of Southern blight to several commercially available and legally registered fungicides. “The ultimate goal of this research is to reduce the number of plants that are killed by Southern blight. The main focus has been using fungicides to replace soil fumigants – which is analogous to using a rifle instead of a shotgun,” said Keinath.

Incidences of Southern blight have become more frequent in recent years because one of its most effective combatants was basically taken off the market. Methyl bromide – a fumigant once widely used to control pests in agriculture – was restricted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2009 after it was determined that the odorless gas was playing a role in the depletion of the ozone layer. Without methyl bromide at their disposal, growers have had to turn to fungicides to protect their crops against Southern blight.