Blossom Protect™
Fire Blight Control
Lawrence Parker, Ph.D. Westbridge Agricultural Products, Vista, CA
Christoph Ertl
bio‐ferm GmbH, Tulln, Austria
What is Blossom Protect™?
 Manufactured by Two Separate Components:
Blossom Protect™: Aureobasidium pullulans
 EPA registered biopesticide product to prevent fire blight
A. pullulans is a naturally occurring yeast. It can be killed or inhibited by fungicides.
 Allowed for use in organic pome fruit production
A fermentation media and buffer designed to increase the growth of Blossom Protect™. Buffer Protect™
How Blossom Protect™ Works
Untreated
E. amylovora
A. pullulans
Incidence of Recovery of Aureobasidium pullulans
(Blossom Protect™) on Floral Stigmas and on Floral Nectaries from Gala Apple Trees % Colonization
University Trial, Corvallis, OR 2011 100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Floral Stigma
Floral Nectaries
May 12
May 17
Blossom Protect™ was applied on May 11 and on May 13
When to Apply Blossom Protect™
Regular treatment when…
10%
10% Bloom
40%
40% Bloom
70%
70% Bloom
90%
90% Bloom
...blossoms are open
Phenological Growth Stages –BBCH scale
Blossom Protect™ Control of Fire Blight on Red Delicious Apples University Trials, Washington, 2008‐2011
70
% Blighted Floral Clusters
60
50
40
Inoculated Control
30
Streptomycin
20
Blossom Protect
10
81%
86%
72%
86%
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
Blossom ProtectTM Control of Fire Blight on Fuji and Granny Smith Apples University Trials, California, 2008‐2009
% Blighted Floral Clusters
50
Inoculated Control
Streptomycin
Blossom Protect
40
30
46%
20
10
93%
67%
0
2008 Fuji
2009 Fuji
2009 Granny Smith
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
Blossom ProtectTM Control of Fire Blight on D’Anjou Pears University Trial, Washington, 2008‐2011
% Blighted Floral Clusters
70
60
50
40
Inoculated Control
30
Streptomycin
67%
20
10
Blossom Protect
81%
90%
87%
91%
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
Blossom Protect™ Control of Fire Blight on Bosc and Bartlett Pears
University Trial, Oregon, 2008‐2011
% Blighted Floral Clusters
50
Inoculated Control
Streptomycin
Blossom Protect
40
30
56%
66%
20
66%
10
93%
0
2008‐Bosc
2009‐ Bosc
2009‐Bartlett
2010‐Bosc
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
Blossom Protect™ Control of Fire Blight on Red Delicious Apples
University Trial, Washington, 2009
70
60
50
Percent Blighted 40
Fruit Clusters
75%
Control
71%
Control
80%
Control
30
20
10
0
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
81%
Control
Blossom Protect™ Control of Fire Blight on Gala Apples
University Trial, Oregon, 2008
% Blighted Clusters
10
8
6
4
22%
22%
29%
42%
63%
71%
65%
2
0
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
Bloomtime is a registered trademark of NAP. MycoShield and AgriMycin and Blightban are registered trademarks of Nufarm. Kasumin is a registered trademark of Arysta Life Science.
Blossom Protect™ Control of Fire Blight on Golden Delicious Apples
University Trial, Oregon, 2011
40
% Blighted Floral Clusters
35
a
30
25
20
b
bc
15
bc
bcd
10
ce
de
5
de
e
0
Water only
Bloomtime Bloomtime 30 Rex Lime Sulfur Bloomtime 30 Bloomtime 30 Firewall 100 at Rex Lime SulfurRex Lime Sulfur
70% Bloom
Full Bloom
& Crocker's and Crocker's
and 70%
and Crocker's
and 70%
and 70%
Then Serenade Bloom Then Fish Oil 30 and Bloom Then Bloom Then
Fish Oil at 30 Fish Oil 30 and
Max plus
and 70%
Serenade
70% Bloom
70% Bloom Serenade Max
Fireline
BioLink
Bloom Then Bloometime at
QD146 plus
plus BioLink 200ppm at Full
Bloom
Spreader
Blossom
BioLink
Full Bloom and
Spreader
Sticker at Full
Protect Full
Spreader
Blossom
Sticker at Full
Bloom
Bloom and Protect at Full
Sticker Full
Bloom an Petal
Petal Fall
Bloom and
Bloom and
Fall
Petal Fall
Petal Fall
All treatments were inoculated with a streptomycin sensitive strain of Erwinia amylovora
Conclusions
•
Blossom Protect™ must be used with Buffer Protect™ to maximize control of fire blight.
•
Blossom Protect™ is an effective tool for the control of fire blight in both organic and conventional systems.
•
Blossom Protect™ can be tank‐mixed with antibiotics under extreme fire blight conditions.
•
Blossom Protect™ can be used in integrated pest management systems to reduce the development of antibiotic resistance.
•
Blossom Protect™ has proven efficacy in multiple varieties and locations over 5 years of trials
Thank You
Lawrence W. Parker, Ph.D.
Westbridge Agricultural Products
Vista, CA, USA
E‐mail: [email protected]
Christoph Ertl
bio‐ferm, GmbH
Tulln, Austria
E‐mail: christoph.ertl@bio‐ferm.com