All the latest news from Teagasc

Introduction

Welcome to the Teagasc Ezine, a new dedicated section in Horticulture Connected in which we will be bringing you technical updates and news on current and future research, advisory and education activities in Teagasc.

The Irish horticultural industry is an important economic sector in Ireland; the sector encompasses vegetables, fruits, ornamentals, flower bulbs, trees, mushrooms, protected crops and a large amenity service sector including sports turf, landscaping, and garden retail. Within these sub-sectors, Teagasc research, advisory and education support these progressive and dynamic sectors in meeting the challenges ahead and capitalising on the opportunities of the future. Teagasc Horticulture Development Department works directly with these sectors to advance their research agendas and support their development needs. Teagasc’s two horticultural colleges, the College of Amenity Horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin, and Kildalton College, Piltown, Co Kilkenny, play a major role in horticultural education and training in Ireland. Information on the latest course offerings and educational news will be presented herein current and future issues.

In recent decades, there has been a consolidation in grower numbers across certain sectors. Horticultural sub-sectors are characterised by high levels of specialisation. The increased size of individual operations has led to highly professional production systems and some vertical integration in the supply chain. Opportunities for development rest with increased technology adoption and innovation around labour efficiency, general input use efficiency and adoption of Integrated Crop Management (ICM) principles. In the face of increasing globalisation and competition, increasing consumer demands around sustainability and quality assured products, growers and producers are constantly striving to harness innovation to maintain competitiveness, and have succeeded in supplying products which are of the highest quality, are nutritious, and are sustainably produced. ✽

Teagasc Horticulture at Bloom in the Park

Teagasc horticulture exhibited at the 10th annual Bloom event in the Phoenix Park, Dublin. Teagasc’s two horticultural colleges, the College of Amenity Horticulture at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin and Kildalton College, Piltown, Co. Kilkenny play a major role in horticultural education and training in Ireland. This year the colleges joined with the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department to highlight the value that Teagasc horticultural courses gain through strong links with research, advice and industry training undertaken by the Teagasc horticulture development department. Teagasc launched two publications at Bloom ‘Stepping Stones to a Career in Horticulture’ and ‘Greenhouse Salad Crops- a Guide for Home Gardeners both of which are free to download at www.teagasc.ie/publications.

Louise Jones from the Teagasc College in the Botanics led the design of the Teagasc stand and together with colleagues Leo Finn, Christine Murray, Liam Foy and Philip Dunne put together a gold medal award winning stand for the first time ever at Bloom. Congratulations to all involved. ✽

Research News

The on-going mushroom research project AgGenes is a DAFMfunded research project that aims to investigate how the commercial mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, breaks
down mushroom compost to obtain the nutrition it needs to produce a mushroom crop. The most up to date genomic and molecular tools are being used to investigate the mechanisms underlying compost utilisation, with the ultimate aim of identifying important genes that are associated with high yields. Researchers at Teagasc and Sligo Institute of Technology are conducting a genomic analysis of compost, casing and mushroom samples to track changes in compost degradation genes and/or other significant biological pathways/processes throughout the cropping cycle. Once key genes have been identified, researchers will also study how the genes are controlled, and whether different strains of mushrooms have different types of genes.

As part of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (2009/128/EC), EU member states are obliged to develop National Action Plans (NAPs) to reduce the impact pesticides have on the environment. Teagasc has commenced a research project EPIC (establishing a platform for IPM in Irish crops) to seek to address these issues. The project is in full swing, and through detailed surveys will establish the potential and limitations of IPM within horticultural crops and determine the potential for current forecasting or risk-based IPM strategies, and disseminate best practice at farm level through developing specific IPM best practice guides. ✽

Technical Updates

‘Diamonds in the sky’
If you are a brassica grower, the diamondback moth is well known to you as a general pest. They are turning out to be a significant problem this year. They arrived by the truckload in early June and have never been witnessed in such numbers, and so suddenly. Growers reported examining their crops on a Friday with not a moth in sight but by the Monday there were millions of them in their brassica fields.

Everything about diamondback moth is small apart from the damage it does. Small green caterpillars hatch from tiny eggs laid on the underside of the leaf, which rapidly get eaten away leaving characteristic ‘window panes’. They attack all brassicas,  especially cabbage, with the worst damage showing up on York cabbage. The damage stems from the sheer numbers of the insect – every plant in the field can get attacked.

This migratory moth is native to southern Europe and gets carried in on high-pressure winds during the summer. It’s hugely destructive of brassica crops in hot countries and occasionally causes problems here in warm dry summers. It looks like 2016 could be another 2006, the last time Irish growers were plagued by this unwelcome visitor.

The only way to control this pest is to get in early with an insecticide and spray frequently if pest pressure is high. Use something like Steward, Karate or Sitrine, with a high volume of water along with a sticker. ✽

Appointments

Teagasc has appointed Dónall Flanagan, as a nursery stock/ornamentals specialised adviser, based at the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department at Ashtown, Dublin. He will be working as part of a team of specialised advisers in the Horticulture Development Department. You can learn more about Dónall and how he plans to engage with the sector in his article in the nursery section of this issue.

Grainne McMahon has been appointed as Assistant Principal at the Teagasc Agriculture and Horticulture College, Piltown, County Kilkenny. Grainne will also have responsibility across the campus for areas such as student welfare, access, security and rules and regulations. She completes the management team at Kildalton of College Principal, Paul Hennessy and Assistant Principal – Agriculture, Tim Ashmore.

Grainne holds a Certificate in Horticulture from Warrenstown College and went on to qualify from University College Dublin with a first class Honours B.Agr.Sc in commercial horticulture. She completed a Masters in Agricultural Science specialising in turfgrass at UCD, before obtaining a Masters of Arts in Management in Education from Waterford Institute of Technology. ✽

Dutch Mushroom Days
Meeting of minds

A number of Teagasc delegates attended the 19th ISMS mushroom congress in Amsterdam (May 29 to June 2). It attracted 449 mushroom scientists, students and industry technical representatives and delegates from 49 countries including Ireland. Around 100 scientific papers were presented on topics as diverse as pest and diseases, substrate and composting, nutrition and medicinal aspects, genetics and breeding, and research and innovation. It was a great opportunity for Irish mushroom scientists and students to network with the wider mushroom scientific community and to hear the latest advances on a diverse range of topics.

The well-known Dutch Mushroom Days International Trade Show was held in its usual venue in Brabanthallen’s-Hertogenbosch from 1 to 3 June, to coincide with the ISMS Congress in Amsterdam. There were 75 trade exhibitors and the event provided mushroom growers and producer organisations with a chance to meet suppliers and to stay up-to-date on all the new developments and technologies within the mushroom industry. Ireland’s Harte Peat Ltd, JF McKenna Ltd, McDon Peat and Sylvan all had stands promoting their businesses to the wider European and world mushroom community. ✽

Teagasc Education Update

Teagasc offers full and part-time courses in Levels 5 and 6 in both its colleges. The conventional way to enter horticulture is through its Level 5 route, which is a Certificate in Horticulture. Students can then go on to complete the Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Horticulture, specialising in landscaping, nursery, sports turf or food production.

There is also an increasing interest in part-time programmes. These operate as components of the Level 5 or Level 6 programmes, whereby an applicant can do an individual subject such as plant propagation or plant ID alone. Students could eventually build their components into a major award. For more information on this please contact each of the colleges individually. The colleges run throughout the summer so you can call up anytime and make an appointment to meet staff and discuss course options.

See www.teagasc.ie for a full listing of all our course offerings, or visit us on stand ST18 at Glas 2016. ✽

National Spotted Wing Drosophila Monitoring Programme 2016

In 2008 Drosophila suzukii (Spotted Wing Drosophila, abbreviated to SWD) was detected in three European countries (Italy, France and Spain) as well as in the United States (California). Its presence in the United Kingdom was first recorded in 2012. In August 2015 its presence in Ireland was confirmed, with samples trapped at a commercial fruit growing farm.

D. suzukii, unlike most other Drosophila species, has the ability to lay its eggs in ripening and ripe fruit. This is possible due to its serrated ovipositor, which allows it to puncture the relatively hard skin of fruits and lay eggs in them. These puncture wounds become soft and sunken and can also allow secondary pathogens to infect fruit.

Teagasc Horticulture Development Department has developed a monitoring programme to establish the extent and occurrence of SWD on Irish soft and stone fruit farms.
This monitoring is important to the fruit industry for several reasons:
(1) It hopes to quantify the extent of the SWD populations in Ireland
(2) It acts as an early warning system for growers to help prevent any unnecessary crop damage
(3) The data set generated can help support and justify the need for emergency access to insecticides if required
(4) Knowledge of the lifecycle and population size of SWD will allow better implementation of control strategies on farms.

A series of workshops have been arranged in the early part of this year with further workshops planned for late 2016. Stay tuned to the events section of Teagasc website for more information. ✽