AU: Spinach growers urged to use IDM against Downy Mildew

Spinach growers from Australia and New Zealand have been urged to adopt Integrated Disease Management (IDM) for the best chance of growing a marketable, Downy Mildew-free crop.

Downy Mildew, agronomics, market trends and spinach breeding techniques were all under the microscope at Seminis Spinach Insights and Field Day in Clyde recently.

Experts on hand included Monsanto’s Global Technology Development Lead for Spinach Kevin Walsh, from the United Kingdom, and Monsanto’s Spinach Breeder John Meeuwsen, from the Netherlands.

Mr Walsh said the workshop-style event was designed to help growers produce the best crop possible.

“Due to pressure from Downy Mildew increasing in Australia and New Zealand, we want to keep growers up to date with the latest developments around the world in disease resistance and management.

“We’re focused heavily on agronomic traits: how can growers provide spinach to the market that’s green, thick and leafy while also mitigating the risk of Downy Mildew?”

He encouraged growers to be vigilant and apply IDM techniques like responsible chemical use, weed control and paddock rotation to ensure crops are protected against any new disease strains.

“It’s unwise to rely on disease resistant varieties as the only form of disease management. New Downy Mildew pathotypes are developing all the time.”

He said that while the use of IDM cannot 100 per cent guarantee that crops will be free of disease, it provides growers with the best possible chance of a successful crop.

“Combining disease-resistance packages with other disease management strategies is best for two reasons: it slows the development of new strains of the disease and it provides growers with more choice. 

“Rather than chasing a variety just for its resistance package, growers who use IDM can produce varieties they like which are popular in the market.

“They have more choice when it comes to the leaf shape, the leaf quality and savoyness – these are all elements that matter to the consumer,” Mr Walsh said.

The event was well attended, with growers travelling from as far as New Zealand and Western Australia to view Seminis varieties on display, including its two new launches for the winter season SV6203VB and SV2994VC.

 

Growers were also given demonstrations of DuPont’s new fungicide Zorvec® Enicade® and Fresh Logic Managing Director Martin Kneebone provided some insights as to what the future food retail environment could look like.