00:00 Pan
l-r across Orchard
Wide,
tree rows
c.u.
apples on tree
Wide
– researchers in tree rows
Wide
– researcher examining apples
c.u.
apples in hand showing discolouration
Wide
– Dr Winstanley assembling disseminator
c.u.
placing pheromone attractor in disseminator
Wide
– Dr Winstanley assembling disseminator
c.u
– disseminator interior
Wide
- Dr Winstanley assembling disseminator
c.u.
closing disseminator
Wide
- Dr Winstanley closing disseminator
c.u.
disseminator hanging in Orchard
Guide Voice: Sex and death – not words
commonly associated with an apple orchard, unless it’s in a
play or TV drama, but that’s exactly what’s going on at
this farm in Worcestershire, England.
Researchers at Warwick HRI, the horticultural research arm of
the University of Warwick, are actually using the sex drive of the
Codling Moth to control this major fruit pest.
They’ve devised a hanging basket style disseminator
containing a virus known to kill the larvae of codling moth. The
dispenser is designed to protect the virus from the elements while
attracting the moths using a strong source of codling moth
pheromone.
Enticed into the disseminator by the lure of a sexual encounter
the moths leave frustrated – and contaminated with a virus
that will then pass to other moths in more successful mating
activity.
00:47 SOT: Dr Doreen Winstanley, Warwick HRI,
University of
Warwick - “This is a new approach to
disseminating the virus throughout the orchard – but
it’s not a new virus for the control of this pest. This virus
is currently registered in 7 European countries and has been used
in one year to spray 100,000 hectres of orchard.”
01:08 Over
shoulder, researcher examines apples
c.u.
apples in hands
Reverse
on researcher’s face
c.u.
Adult Codling Moths on orchard trap
Wide
of Dr. Winstanley and Robert Holloway, Farm Manager, examining
trap
c.u.
new base going into trap
Guide Voice: Spraying is the most common means
of dispersing insect control agents in orchards – but the
virus used to control Codling Moth degrades in sunlight, requiring
repeated sprayings to keep the insects under control – a
costly and time consuming business. In creating a system by which
the moths themselves spread the controlling virus through physical
contact, Dr Winstanley and her colleagues are aiming to ensure that
the virus is always present in the orchard. As part of the project,
the University of Warwick researchers place traps in the orchard,
which are regularly checked to ensure the virus is present in the
adult moths.
01:43 SOT: Dr. Winstanley -
“This method is particularly good for this pest in
particular and other pests that actually penetrate a fruit very
quickly after they hatch. There’s only a very small window of
time to apply your insecticide or your control agent so this virus
will be present in the orchard throughout the whole season and
there’s no problem of having it there at a specific time, it
will be there all the time”
02:12 Apples
on tree
Pan
L-R Farm entrance to Woodhouse Farm sign
Guide Voice: Codling moth is a severe pest in
apple and pear orchards throughout the temperate zone, so the
potential value of this system is not lost on the fruit
growers.
02:21 SOT: Tim Epps, Orcharding Manager,
Bulmers - “We’ve always been keen to be
involved with all sorts of research projects. This one in
particular is aimed at trying to find a simple, focused way of
controlling one of the major pests in the apple industry and the
fact that it is using granulosis virus, that it’s specific,
and the fact that it is a novel way of disseminating it I think
makes it unique in the industry and anything that we could do to
support it…I was very encouraged to do so.”
02:57 Wide
– researcher enters shot to renew virus solution in
disseminator
c.u.
researcher placing virus in disseminator
Wide
of above
Guide Voice: And because this method relies on
attracting the adult pest, to a specific sex pheromone for that
pest, it could have wider applications.
03:07 SOT: Dr. Winstanley -
“This application is a possible method for the control of
codling moth but in addition there are other pests that have a
similar habit to codling moth in so much as the newly emerged
caterpillar will penetrate the fruit immediately and then they
can’t be reached by insecticides. An example of this is false
codling moth which is a major pest in citrus orchards in
South Africa and they have now found a virus which
they can use to control this pest. The citrus foliage is extremely
dense and it’s very inefficient to spray and this particular
method would be excellent for the dissemination of that virus for
control of that citrus pest.”
End: 03.54
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