Spotted Wing Drosophila, a well-known pest that infests ripe, ready-to-eat fruit, poses a significant threat to farmers because it is very difficult to control with standard pesticides. A new approach to tackling this pest involves manipulating the behavior of these insects by disguising healthy fruit as if it were infected with an unappealing pathogen.
By studying the specific odors emitted by infected fruit, researchers have identified the chemicals that repel the flies when applied to healthy fruit and are developing a slow-release device to disperse these fruity odors in the field, ensuring that they do not come into direct contact with the fruit. This method provides a new tool to help farmers protect their crops without relying exclusively on insecticides.
The experiment was carried out in a commercial orchard of sweet cherry cv. 'Regina' in Lagnasco, Piedmont, grafted on 'Gisela 5', covered by rain and hail nets. Foliar applications were carried out on 15 plants with: Stimulant Plus®, Set® and Abundantia®.
The 16in1 SSR system improves sweet cherry genotyping by strengthening varietal identification, parentage analysis and breeding. Tested on European and North American cultivars, it delivers far greater discriminatory power than the ECPGR marker set in laboratory use.
Artificial intelligence is transforming fruit growing in Chile: computer vision, machine learning and data help measure quality, yields and waste, reduce errors and improve decisions from the orchard to packing lines and export markets, including cherries and other fruit crops.
In Apulia, HTS identified Pomes virus Greece (PVGR) in sweet cherry for the first time in Italy. The virus was detected in 8.7% of the samples analysed, while one case of Cherry green ring mottle virus also marks the first regional report of CGRMV in southern Italy.