Project Number: 5310-12130-008-03
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Sep 21, 2007
End Date: Aug 31, 2012

Objective:
To assess current and new soil fumigation methods for pest control efficacy, fumigant emissions and movement in the soil, and crop responses. An interdisciplinary team of USDA-ARS soil and weed scientists, UC and ARS nematologists and pathologists, and grower representatives will be collaborate on the following specific objectives: 1) To identify and characterize nematode, fungi, and weed species and population density before and at different times after soil fumigation, 2) To measure and describe fumigant movement in the soil in relation to soil depths from the depth of application, 3) To measure and characterize emission fluxes from the soil surface or through plastic tarps, 4) To obtain growth and yield parameters of replanted grape vines.

Approach:
The overall goal of this research is to help growers transition from methyl bromide to alternative pest-management methodologies. This will be accomplished by developing new pest management practices that minimize fumigant emissions, control plant pests and maintain high crop production rates. The project will include studies of the film permeability, measurements of emission rate, measurements of plant pathogens in experimental treatments, and a determination of crop yield. Comparisons between numerous fumigation management pracices will be made. Laboratory and field experiments will be conducted to improve our understanding of the effect of soil properties, soil moisture, surface covers, termperature, and surface environmental conditions, etc. on the emission of fumigants from soil, and the effect on efficacy and crop yield. Completing this research will help growers transition from methyl bromide to alternative methodologies. Documents SCA with UC-Riverside.