Recipient Organization
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
3 RUTGERS PLZA
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8559
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This proposal addresses IPM needs in Specialty Crops, Communities including Housing and Schools, Animal Agriculture, Pollinator Health, Pest Diagnostic Facilities, and Public Health. The Specialty Crops goals are to conduct basic IPM presentations to ornamental growers at a variety of statewide meetings, survey these growers about their current pest management practices, provide hands-on IPM training to these growers, and conduct follow-up visits with these growers receiving hands training to monitor their on-going adoption of IPM. The Animal Agriculture goals are to identify the presence of Theileria orientalis in livestock, enhance awareness among NJ livestock producers about tick-borne diseases in cattle, and increase engagement of stakeholders in the surveillance and management of T. orientalis. The IPM in Communities goals are to investigate current pest control practices impacts on pest infestations, deliver training to low-income housing staff to increase the adoption of IPM, and compare the effectiveness of two resident education strategies in low-income communities. The Pollinator Health goals are to develop a non-destructive method for assessing bee queen health and enhanced decision-making for beekeepers in selecting healthy queens for breeding. The Pest Diagnostic Facilities goals are to provide diagnostic services to the public, state and federal agencies, commercial/agricultural stakeholders, and university researchers. The Public Health goals are to increase knowledge regarding tick surveillance and control, establish a statewide database tracking tick distributions and incidences of tick-transmitted pathogens, enhance community engagement through citizen science participation, and develop innovative control approaches for tick and mosquito populations.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
This proposal addresses IPM needs in Specialty Crops, Communities including Housing and Schools, Animal Agriculture, Pollinator Health, Pest Diagnostic Facilities, and Public Health. Specific goals include:Providingbasic and advanced IPM education in the form of presentations and hands on training to ornamentmental growers.Identify the presence of Theileria orientalis in livestock andenhance awareness among NJ livestock producers about tick-borne diseases in cattle.Investigate current pest control practices impacts on pest infestations in low-income housing, deliver training to low-income housing staff, and compare the effectiveness of two resident education strategies in low-income communities.The Pollinator Health goals are to develop a non-destructive method for assessing bee queen health and enhanced decision-making for beekeepers in selecting healthy queens for breeding.The Pest Diagnostic Facilities goals are to provide diagnostic services to the public, state and federal agencies, commercial/agricultural stakeholders, and university researchers.Increase public knowledge regarding tick surveillance and control, create astatewide database tracking the presence of ticksand the incidenceof tick-transmitted pathogens in New Jersey, enhance community engagement, and develop innovative control approaches for tick and mosquito populations.
Project Methods
Specialty Crops:Extension Agents and staff will:Deliver educational presentations on IPM Principles to a broad audience of ornamental growers at trade shows and industry events such as, the NJ State Agricultural Convention, the NJ Green Expo, NJNLA Total Pro Expo, NJLCA Landscape Trade Show, and the Central Jersey Turf and Ornamental Institute. These presentations will provide basic education on IPM practices to participants and will offer them an opportunity to sign up for additional hands-on Extension IPM training of their staff at their operation.Distribute a survey for growers to determine which pests are most common and most costly for ornamental producers in NJ. Information collected will include what materials they are using for controls, what their costs are for control/losses due to these pests, and what resources are most needed from the Rutgers Ornamental IPM program.Visit at least 50 ornamental crop producing operations throughout the state (northern, central, and southern regions) to train the staff on hands-on IPM monitoring and best management practices that are tailored for their specific operation. Each site will receive a minimum of three educational visits and will have continued access to Extension agents and staff via phone and email communications.Training on the use of traps (sticky, pheromone, etc.) and how to monitor pest populations, recognizing threshold levels and when to take action. RCE will work with the growers to set up their traps, develop a monitoring system, and train staff to identify key pests.Mid-season check in and monitoring to address any issues they may be experiencing.End of season check in to evaluate efficacy of control methods.The RCE IPM team will follow up with each site in subsequent years to ensure they keep up with the program, to provide technical assistance, and to monitor changes in pesticide use by reviewing spray records.Animal Health:We willconducthighly sensitive state-of-the-art DNA-based tests on blood samples from NJ livestock. using asmall drop of blood obtained during routine veterinary care. All results (positive or otherwise) will be provided to the submitting farmers and will be accompanied by supporting information to address containment and possible spread. This is exploratory activity will be done byreaching out to livestock producers with the help of Dr. Tess Stahl, Assistant Professor and Livestock and Dairy Extension Specialist with Rutgers University. We will prepare brochures in multiple languages with information on tick-borne diseases in cattle. We willalso preparing brochures with information about tick-borne diseases in companion animals.Pollinator Health: We will offer PCR andqPCR) test to bee keepers to detect bee viruses in their honey bee queens. Thesepathogen screenswill provide a non-destructive method to assess queen health which is critical for beekeepers aiming to produce high-quality daughter queens for sale and colony requeening. This will accomplished by testing "stand-in materials" such as queen fecal matter, colony pollen stores, Royal Jelly, and hive swabs for the presence and titer of key bee viruses (DWV, IAPV, BQCV) and Varroa destructor. We aim first to optimize qPCR assays, assess assay specificity, and develop metagenomic analyses for comprehensive virus detection.Plant Diagnostic Services:This money will be used to cover a portion of the costs of one technical employee who is trained to perform basic diagnostic tasks including fungal culturing, insect identifications, ELISA, PCR, and other common tasks associated with insect pest and disease diagnostics. The technician will train in SOP's for pests and diseases of concern in our region in USDA programs, in the RU Lab, or in collaboration with other labs within the NEPDN region. In an effort to train the next generation of plant diagnosticians, government regulators, and IPM specialists, the technician will also participate in the training of graduate student interns, undergraduate students, NPDN First Detectors, and Master Gardener volunteers.Low Income Housing:We will conduct a survey of housing authority staff to understand the current pest control practices and impact of Covid-19 on pests and pest control practices This survey will answer the following questions: 1) Did Covid-19 have significant impact on number of pest complaints; 2) Did Covid-19 cause disruptions in pest control services?; 3) For contracted pest control services, what elements can be revised in order to increase the adoption of IPM? We aim to obtain 200 completed interviews in collaboration with extension entomologists from Arizona, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.We will also deliver training and continuous assistance to low-income housing staff to increase the adoption of IPM in low-income communities. We will aim to reach out to at least 15 of these communities. For each community, we will first conduct a pest inspection and apartment condition inspection to selected buildings to obtain information on pest prevalence and structural defects. Environmental conditions that are conducive to pest infestations are recorded. Resident interviews will also be conducted if residents are home during inspection. Based on the pest monitoring results and apartment inspection findings, we will then provide educational materials and on-site or remote training to housing staff focusing on pest prevention, non-chemical methods to control pests, and safe use of pesticides and IPM. We will also review the IPM check-point list for property management based on the building-wide pest inspection. We will make recommendations to housing managers on building maintenance and revising pest related policies (lease, pest control contract, pest monitoring, record keeping).Finally, we willcompare the effectiveness of two resident education strategies. We will compare two types of resident education approaches. Type A provides both brief verbal education, IPM kit, and written educational materials. Type B only provides written brochures about IPM. They represent two levels of education. Each type of education will be conducted in one senior site (a high-rise apartment building) and a family site (low-rise apartment buildings). We will divide the residents into two groups based on the floor they reside. Those from odd floor numbers will receive type A education. We will conduct resident interview; complete and discuss the apartment IPM check-point listwith the residents; explain what they are doing well and simple steps they can take to eliminate/reduce conditions that promote pest activity; provide and quickly review of the written educational material; and explain basic housekeeping activities to reduce/prevent the occurrence of cockroaches, bed bugs, and rodents. We will also give an IPM kit which includes glue boards, Climbup interceptors (for monitoring bed bugs), plastic zippered mattress encasement and pest id cards for cockroach, bed bug, and mice, and instructions for use of the contents. Residents from even floor numbers will receive type B education. We will leave written educational materials in a prominent location in the apartment or hand-deliver to the residents if they are home.