For summerfruit, fungicides and bactericides are used to control diseases such as Monilinia fruticola (Brown rot), Botrytis cinerea and Pseudomonas syringae (Bacterial canker). The industry is seeking alternative approaches to control these diseases, thereby reducing dependence on agrichemicals, and is in the early phases of evaluating biological products for their efficacy. However, the replacement of standard chemistry with biologicals will not be the complete solution for the sector.

This project will assess UV-C light technology in a cherry orchard for control of Brown rot, Botrytis and Bacterial canker. It will trial the use of a UVEX^TM UV-C system coupled with Burro autonomous mobile robots for the application of the UV-C treatment. Agri Automation (NZ) are providing the UVEX UV-C technology for the trial and the grower is using their own Burro autonomous mobile robots.

The trial will be carried out in a UFO (Upright Fruiting Offshoot) cherry orchard in Cromwell. The UFO system is two-dimensional, with the trees trained to grow along a trellis system. The trial will assess this type of high-density growing system for its suitability for UV-C light application.

The cherry trial will focus on examining the interactions between UV light, the cherry trees and the pathogens, as well assessing the efficacy of UV-C light technology against three key pathogens, one of which is Botrytis, a priority disease for a number of ALT crop sectors.

UV light has shown to be effective against numerous fungal pathogens and other ALT stakeholders are looking to this technology to help reduce fungicide use in their crops. The findings from this project will support further potential trial work from other product groups and will add to the understanding of the efficacy of UV-C light under New Zealand conditions against different plant pathogens and on different crops.

Read an article about this project and another UV-C trial being conducted in wine grapes here.