02/11/08 Stopping Disease

Stopping Disease. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Besides developing certain foods for consumption, many are used in other ways. The black raspberry is used a food grade dye and has recently been found to have many health benefits that the nutraceutical industry is trying to exploit. The problem is that the black raspberry has been suffering lately. Growers, especially in the Pacific Northwest are looking for hardier alternatives and that is where Bob Martin comes in. Martin is a plant pathologist with ARS in Corvallis, Oregon. MARTIN: The lifespan of the black raspberry has been getting shorter and shorter and shorter due to a number of virus diseases so we've been looking at what are these viruses and how are they transmitted in the field. It appears an aphid is the main culprit and Martin says the breeding program is looking at resistant cultivar. MARTIN: At this point in time it looks like we have got two different locations where they've found aphid resistance so once they reconfirm that in several more greenhouse studies the next step I would like to do is take these things into the field. Put in small blocks and see if they actually do not get the virus in the field. Currently raspberry growers have to replant every couple of years which limits production. But Martin says strangely enough& MARTIN: Some types of aphid resistance actually increases virus transmission because the aphids actually have to feed on the plant and then they make the decision that they don't like it and therefore they move to the next plant. So rather than landing and settling down, they may move and actually infect 5 or 6 plants as they're going along looking for something that's palatable. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.