Last March we ran an article introducing a new technology in the fight against seed borne plant diseases: an ultraviolet light treatment. During the past year, with financial assistance from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program, we have worked to develop this new seed cleaning technology and demonstrate its use on tomato seeds.
Plant disease is a serious problem for organic and ecologically minded farmers who do not want to treat plants with chemical sprays. Disease organisms can be carried in the air, splash up from the soil, or be transferred by pests, but when pathogens are transmitted through seed they can be especially damaging. Ecological growers are particularly at risk from seed-borne diseases, because once a field is infected, they have limited methods to eradicate the pathogens.
To study this, we obtained bacterial cultures responsible for three tomato diseases (bacterial spot, bacterial speck and tomato canker) and applied them to more than 10,000 seeds of Longkeeper tomato. We then germinated and grew out these seeds under both UV treatment & control conditions. The results have been extremely promising in demonstrating the effectiveness of this technology in eliminating pathogens without adversely affecting the growth and development of the plants!
UV seed treatment is a fascinating and exciting new technology for ecological and conventional seed producers. We plan to repeat our tests in 2014, and to expand our study to include beans, brassicas, and other species that potentially carry seed-borne diseases. Members – for more information, watch the next edition of Seeds of Diversity magazine for a more detailed article. Anyone is welcome to contact us for more information about this new option for seed-borne disease control.
Investment in this project has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) which is delivered by Industry Councils from Ontario, B.C. and Quebec.