permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <london@metalab.unc.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 09:51:57 -0500
From: ARS News Service <isnv@ars-grin.gov>
To: ARS News List <ars-news@ars-grin.gov>
Subject: Adding Microbes to Transplant Mix 

STORY LEAD:
Adding Microbes to Transplant Mix Helps Increase Crop Yields

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ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Jesus Garcia, (301) 504-1627, jgarcia@ars-grin.gov
March 28, 2000
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Tomato and pepper farmers can now add microbes along with their transplant
mix to the arsenal of production practices used to reduce yield losses
caused by soilborne pathogens--including root-knot nematodes.

The microbe-amended transplant mix is being developed by Agricultural
Research Service scientists at the U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory in
Fort Pierce, Fla., led by Nancy K. Burelle, in cooperation with Gustafson
LLC of Plano, Texas. The transplant mix, called BioYield 213, is amended
with two naturally occurring soil microorganisms--Paenobacillus macerans and
Bacillus amyloliquefacien.

The mix provides the microorganisms with the environment they need to grow
on the root surface of seedlings. Once this occurs, the microbes then
stimulate vigorous growth and improve the health of the transplanted
seedling by triggering the plant's resistance mechanisms. This research is
part of an ongoing ARS effort to provide farmers with alternatives to the
use of methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting soil fumigant being phased out by
2005.

Benefits continue to be observed in seedlings out in the field. Greenhouse
producers can expect to grow seedlings in a shorter time period and farmers
can anticipate 5 to 20 percent yield increases in tomatoes, bell peppers and
even strawberries. The mix will be made commercially available to transplant
producers in the fall after grower trials are concluded.

This research is helping scientists gauge the effectiveness of other
alternatives to methyl bromide. For example, when this technology is
combined with alternative soil treatments such as Telone II and PLANTPRO 45,
levels of crop productivity approach those achieved with methyl bromide. But
results also indicate that combining the new formulations with the commonly
used practice of solarization--a process that creates an inhospitable
environment for detrimental microbes by covering the soil with plastic to
heat it, for 6 to 8 weeks in the summer--does not enhance control of
root-knot nematodes.

As the phasing out of methyl bromide proceeds, this technology will provide
growers with an effective, economical and sustainable alternative component
that they can use with existing methods.

ARS is the chief research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Scientific contact: Nancy K. Burelle, ARS U.S. Horticultural Research
Laboratory, Fort Pierce, Fla., phone (561) 462-5861, fax (561) 462-5986,
nburelle@saa.ars.usda.gov.
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