project - Research and innovation
Microalgae 1 – Fungi 0. Bio-plant protection in vineyards to reduce or even replace copper fungicides.
Microalgae 1 – Fungi 0. Bio-plant protection in vineyards to reduce or even replace copper fungicides.
Objectives
NA
Objectives
Fungal diseases like downy mildew and Botrytis can cause enormous damage to grape growers all over Europe. European grape species are especially susceptible. Current methods of treating and preventing fungi in traditional and also in organic farming involve the use of copper fungicides. Copper can accumulate in the soil leading to toxicity, harming useful soil microorganisms, and the European Council Regulation on Organic Agriculture limits copper application to six kilograms per hectare. (see additional information field)
Activities
(see additional information field)
Additional information
Furthermore, these fungicides are not compatible with other pesticides and thus may cause phytotoxicity or destroy proteins in plant tissues causing ‘vine damage’.
The ProEcoWine project has developed a novel bio-plant protection product to treat common grapevine fungal diseases using microalgae strains to replace copper fungicides in organic and conventional viticulture. Two strains with the most efficient control of at least 90% over downy mildew and Botrytis have been identified and then tested in in greenhouse and field experiments, where their antifungal activity was validated.
The antifungal activity of the developed products was monitored and showed that the ProEcoWine products fully inhibited the presence of pathogens and had no adverse effect in plants (phytotoxicity).
The first field trials results in Germany were very positive: the algae- based fungicide had comparable success rates as commercial copper-containing fungicides and the infection rates of grapes and leaves were lower than with untreated plants.
The innovative microalgae plant protection product is expected to enable the replacement of copper fungicides, and decrease production costs per unit by up to 20%.
http://www.proecowine.eu/
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/164201_en.html
Project details
- Main funding source
- Other EU research and development funds
- Project acronym
- ProEcoWine
- Agricultural sectors
- Viticulture
Project keyword
- Aquaculture
- Arable crops
- Organic farming
- Agro-ecology
- Crop rotation/crop diversification/dual-purpose or mixed cropping
- Food security, safety, quality, processing and nutrition
- Pest/disease control in plants
- Outdoor horticulture and woody crops (incl. viticulture, olives, fruit, ornamentals)
- Pest/disease control in animals
- Fodder and feed
- Greenhouse crops