The New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) has eventually not affected the melon production of the province of Almería, according to sources from Andalusia's Council of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development.
With the crop already in its final stages, no production losses have been registered, mainly due to growers following the advice of the Regional Government, properly implementing measures to ensure the protection of greenhouses. There has been an occasional cracked fruit in every thousand plants and the virus has been detected in one of every 450 melon plants.
In the plantations where the recommendations of the Plant Protection Services of the Government of Andalusia have not implemented, viral levels have been higher.
Sources from the Plant Protection Services of Andalusia reminded that the best choice for pest control is the use of integrated control strategies.
The measures that have managed to keep the virus under control, recommended by the Council of Agriculture of the Government of Andalusia, are:
Phytosanitary measures
- Controlling the whitefly population to minimise the presence of insects at all times, either through continuous biological control or by means of chemical treatments, together with the implementation of all cultural practices that help reduce the vector's presence (chromotropic traps). If using chemical treatments, it is necessary to alternate products from different chemical groups.
- Mass use of chromotropic traps for the monitoring and capture of vector insects, prior even to the time of planting.
- Use of a healthy seeds, free of the vector, with their corresponding phytosanitary passport.
Structural measures
The greenhouse structure must be fully hermetic to prevent the entrance of vector insects.
Use of nettings with the necessary density to prevent the entry of insects; use of a double door or a door combined with netting at the entrance of the greenhouse; use of thermal blankets on the vector-free crops, from the beginning until it is agronomically advisable to withdraw them (right before the harvest).
Hygienic measures
Uprooting and immediately removing plants affected by viruses through bagging and dehydration, delivering it to an authorised plant waste handling professional.
Subsequently, following technical criteria and depending on the specific virus and its presence, plants will have to be removed. The transport of removed plants will be carried out with trucks or closed containers and will be brought to plant waste handling centres. The plants affected by viruses transmitted by vector insects will be treated with specific pesticides prior to its removal from the property.
The removal of plant waste and weeds will intensify within the greenhouse and its vicinity, leaving a perimeter of over a meter completely clean of weeds.
By applying all these measures, plus a few additional ones, Almería's growers have managed to keep the danger of the New Delhi virus away from their plantations.
Source: Hortoinfo.es
