Environment

Table of Contents

1. Reduced-Risk Insecticides in Apple IPM Programs
2. Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Agriculture
3. Soil Management Workshop
4. Promoting Manure Best Management Practices
5. Municipal Integrated Pest Management Lawn Demonstration
6. Micropore Filtration Technology
7. Manure on Wheat Project
8. Cover Crops for Carbon Sequestration and Nitrogen Management in Field Crops
9. Improving Energy Use in Greenhouse Tomatoes Using Grow Pipes

Reduced-Risk Insecticides in Apple IPM Programs

Ontario apple producers currently rely on the use of organophosphorous (OP) insecticides to manage several economic pests of apple including plum curculio, apple maggot, European apple sawfly, codling moth and mullein bug. OP insecticides are expected to be severely restricted or eliminated due to concerns regarding worker safety and impact on beneficial insects. Reduced-risk insecticides are considered to be potential alternatives to OP insecticides since they are believed to have less impact on human health, lower toxicity to birds, and fish, as well as greater compatibility with IPM programs - however, they may harm beneficial insects.

Research conducted indicates that reduced-risk insecticide programs were generally as effective in managing the target pests as conventional OP insecticide programs but reduced-risk insecticides may not perform as well as OP programs in orchards with high pest pressure. This study concluded that reduced-risk insecticides are not harmless to beneficial insect populations and their toxicity should be evaluated in the field prior to incorporating them into IPM programs.

Reduced-risk insecticides may provide growers with alternatives to OP insecticides that are more environmentally friendly and can be incorporated into IPM programs. This better equips apple producers to be productive and competitive with the potential loss of a key pest management tool.

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Agriculture

The purpose of the program is to demonstrate beneficial management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the soil and nutrient management area and can increase carbon sinks in the agricultural sector.

Demonstrations of best management practices (BMPs) were established at over 50 sites each year. Information on greenhouse gas emissions and the adoption of BMPs were given at just over 230 meetings, tours, farm shows and field days. Over 30,000 people had the opportunity to hear about mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; practices that are good for the bottom line and for soil and water quality.

The program focused on improving nitrogen management. By putting the maximum economic rate of nitrogen on a crop there will be less nitrogen left in the soil at the end of the season. Less nitrogen left in the soil after harvest means there is less to be lost through leaching and less nitrogen in the soil in the spring to be lost as greenhouse gas. This can be achieved in a number of ways including soil tests, nitrogen rate trials and accounting for manure nitrogen. Another area of focus was soil carbon sequestration, capturing carbon in the soil from carbon dioxide removed from the air by plants. Practices such as reducing tillage and growing cover crops can increase the amount of organic matter or carbon in the soil. As well, energy conservation was achieved with the use of technology including drip irrigation compared to traveling lower boom irrigation.

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Soil Management Workshop

The purpose of the Soil Management Workshop was to educate agri-business on the many aspects of soil quality. They are exposed to practical methods for assessing soil quality. This will broaden their understanding of soils so that when they are on farm, the soil will be considered along with pest and other issues.

The workshop was attended by 30 agri-business representatives and farmers. Eighty percent of the participants felt that the workshop provided them with new tools for soil and crop diagnostics. Ninety percent of participants agreed that what they learned at the workshop would help them in their work with clients. They felt that they had received practical management solutions which they could use in their discussions with clients. This is an information channel that helps us reach a greater portion of OMAFRA clients to provide information on how to manage soil on their farms. The majority of participants said that they would recommend the workshop to others.

Promoting Manure Best Management Practices

Manure Management is the newest in the series of Best Management Practices books. This 140-page, colourfully-illustrated book gives livestock producers and anyone else interested in manure, an overview of manure management from animal to field. Some of the themes in this book include the principals of nutrient availability from manure, a systems approach to manure siting, storage and handling, as well as the risks associated with manure application and best management practices to deal with those risks.

The Best Management Practices Series of books are published in cooperation with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Crop Technology Branch staff were involved in technical development, writing and reviewing the Manure Management BMP, as well as providing many of the illustrations, tables and photographs.

Manure Management provides practical advice to producers on storing, handling and applying manure in ways that retain its value, suit the operation and reduce the risk of environmental contamination.

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Municipal Integrated Pest Management Lawn Demonstration

The purpose of the project was to determine if it was possible to reduce pesticide use on home lawns by implementing an integrated pest management program. The project was conducted on passive parkland turf in two municipal settings (London and Brantford) and on a turf research range at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute over three years. Two alternative weed control products were also evaluated in this project. In addition, the aim was to determine the influence of fertilizer, mowing height and irrigation on weed populations in home lawns.

By implementing IPM on these turf demonstration areas instead of a conventional lawn care program, we were able to demonstrate a 50-66 per cent reduction in the number of pesticide applications made each year.

This project demonstrated that on turf with no insect infestations and by relying on spot treatments only for broadleaf herbicides, a 98-99 per cent reduction in the area of home lawns treated with pesticide can be achieved by implementing an IPM approach to home lawn maintenance, without any sacrifice in turf quality. In addition, weeds can be suppressed in home lawns to a level of less than 10 per cent. Two alternative herbicides, when used together (corn gluten meal and beet juice extract) also suppressed weeds to a level of less than 10 per cent.

These research results help encourage the turf industry to develop and utilize IPM programs. Demonstrated reductions in pesticides are a benefit to broader provincial water quality objectives.

Key players in the project were the Ontario Pesticide Advisory Committee, the Guelph Turfgrass Institute and OMAFRA.

Micropore Filtration Technology

The goal of this project was to provide an alternative method to disinfect the nutrient solution in hydroponic greenhouse production, determine the efficiency of micropore filtration as a method to manage microbes in recirculating nutrient solutions, and determine the influence of miropore filtration on nutrient solution composition.

The system performed extremely well in removing microbes from the nutrient solution. The microbial tests showed that the pathogens tested (Pythium and Fusarium) were eliminated from the nutrient solution. The nutrient solution composition was not altered. Modifications to the experimental system allowed the system to treat water required for a 4 hectare (10 acre) greenhouse operation. The grower community now has an good alternative method to disinfect the nutrient solution without any adverse affect on the nutrient solution. This information was presented at the 2005 fall Canadian Greenhouse Conference (80-90 participants). After the presentation, the manufacturer was inundated with visitors requesting more information and price quotes.

Key players in this project were Southshore Greenhouses, Industrial Research Assistance Program, AAFC, University of Guelph and Zenon.

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Manure on Wheat Project

Manure nutrient utilization is improving as livestock producers look for additional profitable opportunities for applying manure to enhance crop growth. This study compared spring applied nitrogen on winter wheat from manure and commercial fertilizer sources.

The 2005 side-by-side results showed the best yield response where manure supplied two-thirds of the nitrogen, with the remaining one-third from commercial nitrogen (7 bu/ac yield increase). Where total nitrogen needs were supplied by manure, the average yield over nine sites was 2.5 bu/ac lower, although economic returns remained higher than for N supplied only from commercial fertilizer. These results re-enforce the need for uniformity in manure application, and the difficulty in achieving this. This study will be continued in 2006 and will further evaluate if there is a yield impact to incorporation versus surface application for spring applied manure on winter wheat. These initial findings show great promise as another opportunity for livestock producers to gain value from manure.

Cover Crops for Carbon Sequestration and Nitrogen Management in Field Crops

This project set out to demonstrate opportunities that may exist with cover crop species that are seeded following wheat harvest. The project examined the value of cover crops in systems with and without the inclusion of manure to determine the economic and environmental benefits associated with including cover crops in the production system.

Application of manure associated with relatively high rates of ammonium nitrogen (over 50 kg-N/ha) often resulted in the doubling of non-legume cover crop growth (oats, oilseed radish and annual ryegrass). The quantity of nitrogen in cover crop biomass was often doubled when manure with high rates of ammonium nitrogen was applied. Oats and oilseed radish were the most effective non-legume cover crop species with respect to growth and nitrogen sequestration with biomass nitrogen quantities often exceeding 80 kg-N/ha where manure associated with a relatively high rate of ammonium nitrogen was applied.

Field peas were successfully established at many of the sites. Peas often contained more nitrogen than did an oat cover crop, especially when manure was not applied likely because peas are a nitrogen-fixing legume species. Peas also demonstrated an ability to sequester soil mineral nitrogen, but often did not reduce soil mineral nitrogen levels as low as oat or oilseed radish.

The final aspect of the project was to evaluate the potential economic benefit associated with the use of cover crops. The results were disappointing from the subset of cover crop studies that were carried through with corn production in the following year. Fertilizer nitrogen reductions associated with the use of cover crops generally did not exceed 30 lbs/ac. The value of this 30 lb/ac of nitrogen credit would not pay for the cost associated with cover crop seed and establishment. Based on these results and considering only nitrogen credits, cover crops did not enhance the economics of corn production.

Further work is in progress to understand how to transfer cover crop nitrogen to the succeeding corn crop which would provide a net economic benefit to cover crop use. Without an understanding of why only a relatively small fraction of cover crop nitrogen was available to the next corn crop, we can not suggest either an economic or environmental benefit associated with cover crop use at this time. Although cover crops are recognized for contributing many other benefits such as increased organic matter, soil building properties, reduced soil erosion, better water holding capacity etc, no one has determined a manner to quantify these benefits, let alone assign them an economic value which a producer can use to calculate the economic impact of including cover crops in their production system, especially in the short term.

Key players in this project were participating growers, University of Guelph, and Crop Technology Branch staff.

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Improving Energy Use in Greenhouse Tomatoes Using Grow Pipes

Greenhouse vegetables

Grow pipes are small diameter heating pipes (10 - 20 mm dm) that hang between the two rows of plants. The height of the grow pipe is the distance above the growing media. Hot water at 30 - 45°C is circulated through the pipes to provide heat at the specific location. This allows the greenhouse operator to hold a slightly lower ambient temperature in the greenhouse while maintaining an ideal temperature at that location on the crop resulting in energy savings. It is placing the heat where it is required the most. As well, the localized heat increases the temperature of the developing fruit causing it to grow faster and larger thus increasing yield. The heat within the crop also increases air flow around the plant decreasing the chances of diseases incidences.

The purpose of this project was to improve the use of energy in the greenhouse, and to improve the microclimate in the crop canopy to decrease disease incidences and improve yield. A grower trial to demonstrate the benefits of grow pipes in tomato crops in Southwest Ontario was initiated.

There was an increase in early production by 4.5 per cent (5.5 kg/m2) and a 1 per cent increase in energy use ($5/m2) during the period of production. Plants in the treated houses had a slightly earlier first pick (5 days). Later in the season, there was a 10 per cent reduction in energy use with the grow pipes. There was a decrease in the incidence of botrytis 3 per cent in the houses with grow pipes compared to 7 per cent in the houses without grow pipes. The optimum location of the grow pipe was found to be 30 cm above the growing media as compared to 120 cm. Information from this project was presented at the November 2005 Essex County Associated Growers Convention (65 participants).

Allegro Greenhouses (grower), IRAP, AAFC and OMAFRA were key players in this project.

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