Source: COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
IPMPIPE AND INNOVATIVE DISEASE DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS FOR ONION GROWERS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0222164
Grant No.
2010-51181-21192
Cumulative Award Amt.
$2,467,589.00
Proposal No.
2010-01193
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2010
Project End Date
Jul 31, 2015
Grant Year
2010
Program Code
[SCRI]- Specialty Crop Research Initiative
Recipient Organization
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
FORT COLLINS,CO 80523
Performing Department
Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management
Non Technical Summary
The long-term goal is to develop, fully deploy, and evaluate a sustainable online information management platform called the Onion ipmPIPE (Onion integrated pest management Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education) to optimize sound pest management decision-making in onions. The mission is to invest resources into aspects of production of bulb onions for fresh market and storage to the ipmPIPE infrastructure in response to the needs of onion stakeholders across the U.S. Focus areas include: a) efforts to identify and address threats from pests and diseases; b) efforts to improve production efficiency, productivity and profitability; c) new innovations in technology; d) methods to detect, monitor, control and respond to potential food safety hazards; and e) investment in ipmPIPE resources and expansion. Trans-disciplinary and outreach approaches include economic resources and tools that empower specialists and stakeholders to make more timely and justified specialty crop production and pest management decisions. Anticipated Outcomes of the Onion ipmPIPE include: (a)It will develop linked information platforms where specialty crop stakeholders can check what pests have been identified in their area, get assistance with pest diagnostics, link to pest images, and finally, access information on the pest, life cycles, host range, and IPM tactics. (b)It will extend the single pest/crop Information Technology platform approach to become a diverse crop and pest platform which would address the range of pest problems faced by onion producers. (c)It will address a broad range of important pathogens in onion, and will validate a real-time risk management tool to be used by public stakeholders, extension, research, and industry. Models for disease movement and development will also be accessed. (d)It will develop and validate innovative disease diagnostic technologies that will improve the accuracy and timeliness of market-supported IPM strategies. (e)It will enhance detection systems for important viral, fungal and bacterial diseases in formats that can be used on broad scales to compile epidemiological data. (f)It will improve the management strategies of specialty crop stakeholders by enabling them to focus on locally developing disease problems while being alerted of other enhanced risk situations on regional formats, improving IPM practices of producers, limiting the amounts of pesticides applied, promoting integration of control options into management strategies, and educating specialty crop stakeholders about pest problems. (g) It will reduce redundancy of onion pest alert systems operated in individual onion-producing states and regions. (h) It will promote greater communication and collaboration among onion researchers, extension personnel, and industry participants on a national level. (i) The Onion ipmPIPE platform will serve as a role model for other specialty crop systems.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
50%
Developmental
50%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2111451113010%
2121451116030%
2161451117050%
6011451301010%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants; 211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1451 - Onion, garlic, leek, shallot;

Field Of Science
1130 - Entomology and acarology; 1160 - Pathology; 3010 - Economics; 1170 - Epidemiology;
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal is to optimize sound pest management decision-making in onion by the development and deployment of a sustainable online information management platform called the Onion ipmPIPE (Onion integrated pest management Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education). Objective 1: ipmPIPE Network and Operations to (a) Validate scouting protocols for priority pests of onion system; (b) Provide management tools to stakeholders that relate descriptive stages of plant growth to weather, pest and disease thresholds with timely management strategies; (c) Enhance management resources to include an image gallery to aid in-field and laboratory identification of key diseases and pests which will be linked to a wiki-information tool that will provide additional background information on biology and management; (d) Add economic monitoring of specialty crop markets to help stakeholders make more timely and informed decisions for crop production and pest management; and (e) Assess the adoption level of these tools and resources used by growers, advisors and other key stakeholders. Objective 2: Innovative Pathogen Diagnostic Development and Validation to (f) Develop and enhance a DNA macroarray detection method for bacterial disease complexes, viruses, and fungal disease organisms affecting onions in the field and early storage; and (g) Validate the macroarray as a detection tool that is specific for the target organisms emphasized in this proposal (does not cross-react with non-target organisms). Objective 3: Incorporation of Disease Risk Decisions with Economic Justification to (h) Implement and validate Risk Assessment Models for thrips, Iris yellow spot virus), bacterial diseases and foliar fungal diseases; and (i) Provide a real-time price discovery tool for specialty crop commodities will help onion stakeholders make more timely decisions in relation to disease and pest management options and strategies. Outputs will include a measure of information technology usage as determined by the number of user hits on the Onion websites. Hits per year will be analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness and preference of different formats. Usage of features such as the image gallery, wiki pages and crop marketing resources will also be tracked to measure their effectiveness. Positive results for pest detection will help determine significant local foci of pest incidence which will be used to improve pest management timelines and efficacy. New and improved pest diagnostic techniques will be promoted and validated by the virus, bacterial, and fungal disease laboratories working with onion specialists across the U.S. They will also act as repositories for virus, bacterial and fungal isolates, respectively, under appropriate PPQ permits.
Project Methods
This project will incorporate data collection efforts that have been initiated recently with the creation of the regional W1008 research and extension project. W1008 provides organizational structure for information sharing from onion research and extension projects funded by other sources in participating states. Inclusion and testing of the pathogen macroarray will expand the innovative diagnostic tools and coverage for priority diseases of onion caused by fungal and bacterial pathogens and their complexes. The Onion ipmPIPE will link with weather impact management tools and recommendation systems already successfully adopted for other ipmPIPE projects. Onion Sentinel Monitoring will involve multiple fields, experiment station sites and/or survey transects in representative onion production areas with input on locations sought from growers and crop consultants. This will require regular field visits during key growth periods of the onion crop throughout the long growing season of 16-20 weeks. State disease and insect pest reports will be submitted biweekly, and compiled for timely state/regional/national reporting to growers online at the Onion ipmPIPE web site. Expert Labs will coordinate the following activities on behalf of the Onion ipmPIPE network and industry: (a) Repository for archival of representative isolates and diversity of the pathogen and/or pest group. (b) Provide expertise for the coordination of protocols to sample for specific onion pathogens and/or pests for the ipmPIPE network, as well as individual participants in the ipmPIPE or from the onion industry. (c)Contribute expertise to the development of appropriate outreach materials such as diagnostic profiles, description of pathogen or pest biology, and summary of pest management tactics that can be distributed via ipmPIPE resources such as web sites. Each Risk Assessment Model contains key factors related to the biology of the pest, conditions favoring pest survival and pathogen infection, recent weather events and forecasts (temperature and moisture), crop history, irrigation or rainfall conditions, varietal susceptibility, and stage of crop development. This information will include crop status (growth stage), pest reports and IPM recommendations by state specialists, as well as relevant weather parameters. The Onion ipmPIPE then provides links to and explanation of IPM strategies that may include the timely application of labeled fungicides. Similar links are available in state reports and other regional resource links on the ipmPIPE network and other IPM websites. Short-term metrics will include: increased knowledge of pathogen and pest incidence, increased knowledge of Onion ipmPIPE tools (i.e., image galleries, wiki pages, etc.) for assisting with diagnostics and management decisions. Medium-term metrics will include: increase in use of the Onion ipmPIPE for pest diagnostics, monitoring, and management decisions. Long-term metrics include: environmental impacts associated with the number of pesticide applications (insecticides and fungicides) and/or the use of less toxic products; and the economic impact associated with these management decisions.

Progress 09/01/10 to 07/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included onion growers, processors, crop consultants, field representatives of onion seed and chemical companies, State Department of Agriculture field inspectors, Extension faculty, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students involved with production and pest management of onions and other allium crops in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and other onion producing states in the U.S. The project has also served to connect onion researchers at private companies, USDA-ARS and Universities in and around major onion production regions in the United States, further encouraging communication and information dissemination. Presentations have been made to state, regional and national meetings by project PIs; examples include the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A bulletin was developed by project personnel during 2013 to provide an updated, comprehensive, and authoritative account of onion plant health and production practices commonly employed throughout irrigated regions of North America. It is national in scope and practical in emphasis, and has already been delivered to more than 3000 stakeholders throughout the U.S. It is designed to assist in the diagnosis of onion diseases and pests whether in the field, laboratory, or diagnostic clinic, and to provide an overview of pest management strategies that can be employed to reduce their impacts. The bulletin contains excerpts from various ipmPIPE resources developed during the last three years including the popular series of diagnostic cards, plant damage scales, insect and disease distribution profiles across the U.S., risk assessment models, and integrated pest management strategies. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Additional links were made to other educational resources including extension biweekly newsletter on project reports and weather patterns by production region, fact sheets, narrated videos on diseases, and pest management guidelines. These educational resources and progress have been shared with growers and other stakeholders at numerous commodity meetings and field days in all participating states. The survey data will help refine an approach to reach more onion growers with the website. An example of each state's outcome and impact with stakeholders is provided by Utah colleagues as follows; similar reports available from other states including Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Washington: 160 face-to-face contacts with grower and other onion industry personnel, state and federal agency staff, Extension faculty, and researchers - onion ipmPIPE project results and accomplishments were shared (Utah Onion Association annual winter educational meeting; Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America, Portland, Oregon; Utah Onion Association field days; American Phytopathological Society regional division and national meetings, Sacramento, California, Providence, Rhode Island. A total of 512 webpage hits for the Utah State University Extension Onion Thrips and Iris Yellow Spot Virus Fact Sheets. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The outcomes of this project enhanced pest and disease scouting protocols,provided more rapid diagnostic confirmation, and more timely pest management strategies for implementation by onion growers in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and throughout the United States. The allium industry representing onion and garlic crops was impacted by the Onion ipmPIPE grant of $375,000 plus PI resources of an additional $500,000/year with a conservative return of 5 percent or $52 million for an annual Return on Investment of 50 to 1 by reducing losses from diseases and pests affecting: onion with 170,000 acres valued at $860 million value ($43 million return) and garlic with 30,000 acres valued at $172 million value ($9 million return). Additional savings included reduced application of pesticides (e.g., fungicides, insecticides) when insect and disease pressures were below economic or injury thresholds; data unavailable on specific amounts of pesticides applied or not during this reporting period.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Arif, M., C.M. Vahling-Armstrong, J. Knerr, S. Lupien, F. Dugan, L.J. du Toit, and B.K. Schroeder. 2013. Modification of oligo design for enhanced sensitivity of a DNA macroarray for detection of fungal onion bulb rot pathogens. Phytopathology 103:S2.8 (Abstr.).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Bag, S., Schwartz, H.F., Cramer, C.S., Havey, M.J., and Pappu, H.R. 2015. Pathogen Profile - Iris yellow spot virus (Tospovirus: Bunyaviridae): from obscurity to research priority. Mol. Plant Path. 16:224-237.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Cramer, C., N. Singh, N. Kamal, and H.R. Pappu 2014. Screening onion plant introduction accessions for tolerance to onion thrips and Iris yellow spot virus. HortScience 49:1253-1261.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Boateng, C. O., and Schwartz, H. F. 2013. Temporal and localized dynamics of Iris yellow spot virus within tissues of infected onion plants. Southwestern Entomologist: 38:183-199.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Boateng, C. O., Havey, M., Otto, K., and Schwartz, H. F. 2014. Evaluation of onion germplasm for resistance to Iris yellow spot virus and/or onion thrips (Thrips tabaci). Southwestern Entomologist 39:237-260.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Buckland, K., J. Reeve, D. Alston, C. Nischwitz, and D. Drost. 2013. Effects of nitrogen fertility and crop rotation on onion growth and yield, thrips densities, iris yellow spot virus and soil properties. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 177: 63-74.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Dugan, F. M., S.L. Lupien, C.M. Vahling-Armstrong, G.A. Chastagner, and B.K. Schroeder. 2013. Host range of Penicillium spp. (blue mold) rotting bulb crops. Phytopathology 103:S2.37 (Abstr.)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Dugan, F.M., S.L. Lupien, C.M. Vahling-Armstrong, G.A. Chastagner, and B.K. Schroeder. 2014. Host ranges of North American isolates of Penicillium causing blue mold of bulb crops. Crop Protection 64:129-136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cropro.2014.06.013
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Iftikhar, R., S.V. Ramesh, S. Bag, M. Ashfaq and H.R. Pappu. 2014. Global analysis of population structure, spatial and temporal dynamics of genetic diversity and evolutionary lineages of Iris yellow spot virus (Tospovirus: Bunyaviridae). Gene 547:111-118. DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2014.06.036
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pace, M., Drost, D., Alston, D., Bunn, B., and Nischwitz, C. (2014). Onion production. Utah Vegetable Production and Pest Management Guide. Logan, UT: Utah State University (122 pp.). http://utahpests.usu.edu/IPM/files/uploads/Publications/UT-veg-guide-2014.pdf
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Pappu, H.R. 2015. Thrips-transmitted Iris yellow spot virus  A threat to onion sustainability. Agricultural Research Journal 52: 10-12
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schwartz, H. F., Alston, D., Alwang, J., Bartolo, M., Blunt, T., Boateng, C. O., Bunn, B., Cramer, C.S., Cranshaw, W., Davidson, J., Derie, M., Doran, J., Douce, K., Drost, D., du Toit, L. J., Gourd, T., Gugino, B., Hammon, B., Hardin, J., Hausbeck, M., Jibilian, G., Lafferty, L., LaForest, J., McMillan, M. S., Mohan, S. K., Morrice, J., Nault, B., Nischwitz, C., Norton, G., Otto, K., Pappu, H. R., Petersen, M., Sampangi, R., Schroeder, B., Secor, W., Szostek, S., Tisserat, N., Uchanski, M.E., VanKirk, J., Waters, T., Wiriyajitsomboon, P., and Wohleb, C. 2014. Onion ipmPIPE: A coordinated effort to improve the management of onion thrips and Iris yellow spot virus for onion growers and their industry. APS Plant Health Progress 15:172-183.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Pappu HR, Bag S (2014). ICTV taxonomic proposal 2014.004aV.A.v2. Tospovirus_sp. Create 1 new species in the genus Tospovirus, family Bunyaviridae. Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2015). Archives of Virology 160:18371850. http://www.ictvonline.org/proposals-14/2014.004aV.A.v2.Tospovirus_sp.pdf
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Schwartz, H. F. 2015. Web site dedicated to information and resources on onion pest management, thrips and IYSV. http://www.alliumnet.com/index.htm
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Schwartz, H. F. and Bartolo, M. E. (editors). 2013. Onion Health Management and Production. 104 pp. Colorado State University Bulletin. Fort Collins, CO.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schwartz, H.F., Gent, D.H., Fichtner, S.M., Otto, K., Boateng, C.O., Szostek, S., Cranshaw, W.S., and Mahaffey, L.A. 2014. Thrips tabaci (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) and Iris yellow spot virus associated with onion transplants, onion volunteers and weeds in Colorado. Southwestern Entomologist 39:691-704.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Szostek, S., and Schwartz, H. F. 2015. Overwintering sites of Iris yellow spot virus and Thrips tabaci (Thysanoptera:Thripidae) in Colorado. Southwestern Entomologist 40:273-290..
  • Type: Other Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2015 Citation: Szostek, S. and Schwartz, H. F. 2015. An RT-PCR procedure to identify thrips commonly found on onion in Colorado. Allium and Umbelliferae Improvement Newsletter Vol. 25, 5 pages.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tripathi, D., G. Raikhy, and H.R. Pappu (2015). Movement and nucleocapsid proteins coded by two tospovirus species interact through multiple binding regions in mixed infections. Virology 478:143-53. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2015.01.009
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tripathi, D., G. Raikhy, R. Dietzgen, M. Goodin, and H.R. Pappu (2015). In vivo Localization of Iris yellow spot virus (Bunyaviridae: Tospovirus)-encoded Proteins and Identification of Interacting Regions of Nucleocapsid and Movement Proteins. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0118973. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118973
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Tripathi, D., and H.R. Pappu (2015). Evaluation of Acibenzolar-S-Methyl-Induced Resistance against Iris yellow spot tospovirus. European J. Plant Pathology 142:855864. DOI 10.1007/s10658-015-0657-0


Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience included onion growers, processors, crop consultants, field representatives of onion seed and chemical companies, State Department of Agriculture field inspectors, Extension faculty, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students involved with production and pest management of onions and other allium crops in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and other onion producting states in the U.S. The project has also served to connect onion researchers at private companies, USDA-ARS and Universities in and around major onion production regions in the U.S., further encouraging communication and information dissemination. Presentations have been made to state, regional and national meetings by project PIs; examples include the National Allium Research Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Pest management training was provided for graduate student S. Szostek. Partner organizations included the Colorado Onion Association; collaborators included L. Duell (Champion Seed), Rick Watson (Nunhems), D. Whitwood (Crookham Seed). The Colorado team participated on the regional research and extension committee, W2008 - Biology and Management of Iris yellow spot virus (IYSV) and Thrips in Onions. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Outputs of this work posted on web sites and presented at various meetings will be used by Colorado and other participating onion-producing states, as well as the national onion association to select more effective pest management strategies including the promotion of varieties that are less susceptible to damage by thrips, virus and other diseases. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue to summarize data and prepare publications on project results related to the goals.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Outcomes of this work has been posted on web sites and presented at various meetings for use by the Colorado and national onion industries, growers, seed company breeders and pathologists, and integrated pest management specialists to select more effective management strategies including the promotion of varieties that are less susceptible to damage by thrips and the virus. Growing less susceptible varieties of onions and reducing virus and thrips pressure in Colorado could increase yields by a conservative estimate of 10 percent, valued at 5 million dollars annually. With an estimated cost of 250,000 dollars for salaries and operating costs of project participants from various sources, the Return on Investment is valued at more than 25 to 1.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schwartz, H. F. 2013. Onion IPM highlights. Allium and Umbelliferae Improvement Newsletter 23:12-13. Schwartz, H. F. and VanKirk, J. 2014. Onion ipmPIPE: A coordinated effort to improve the management of onion thrips and Iris yellow spot virus for the U.S. onion industry. Proc. Pp. 58-62, Dec. 3  5; at the National Allium Research Conference, Scottsdale, AZ. Schwartz, H. F., Alston, D., Alwang, J., Bartolo, M., Blunt, T., Boateng, C. O., Bunn, B., Cramer, C.S., Cranshaw, W., Davidson, J., Derie, M., Doran, J., Douce, K., Drost, D., du Toit, L. J., Gourd, T., Gugino, B., Hammon, B., Hardin, J., Hausbeck, M., Jibilian, G., Lafferty, L., LaForest, J., McMillan, M. S., Mohan, S. K., Morrice, J., Nault, B., Nischwitz, C., Norton, G., Otto, K., Pappu, H. R., Petersen, M., Sampangi, R., Schroeder, B., Secor, W., Szostek, S., Tisserat, N., Uchanski, M.E., VanKirk, J., Waters, T., Wiriyajitsomboon, P., and Wohleb, C. 2014. Onion ipmPIPE: A coordinated effort to improve the management of onion thrips and Iris yellow spot virus for onion growers and their industry. APS Plant Health Progress 15:172-183.


Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience included onion growers, processors, crop consultants, field representatives of onion seed and chemical companies, State Department of Agriculture field inspectors, Extension faculty, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students involved with production and pest management of onions and other allium crops in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and other onion producing states in the U.S. The project has also served to connect onion researchers at private companies, USDA-ARS and Universities in and around major onion production regions in the United States, further encouraging communication and information dissemination. Presentations have been made to state, regional and national meetings by project PIs; examples include the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids, MI. Changes/Problems: Delays were encountered in developing fungal and bacterial macroarrays. We anticipate having a preliminary DNA macroarray available by 2014 for the priority bulb rot pathogens for in vitro and in vivo testing. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Collaboration and training were initiated with various organizations including the Colorado Onion Association, New Mexico Dry Onion Commission, Michigan Onion Committee, Utah Onion Association, National Onion Association, and Regional W1008 Research and Extension Committee members throughout the United States. Additional contacts included numerous Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and other onion growers in all major onion growing counties of the U.S., inspectors with state departments of agriculture, extension agents, field consultants with seed companies, pesticide companies, pesticide applicators, and crop consulting companies. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Additional links have been made to other educational resources including extension biweekly newsletter on project reports and weather patterns by production region, fact sheets, narrated videos on diseases, and pest management guidelines. These educational resources and progress have been shared with growers and other stakeholders at numerous commodity meetings and field days in all participating states. The survey data will help refine an approach to reach more onion growers with the website. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During its third year, the Onion ipmPIPE project has continued to evolve in its scope and interactivity with state, regional, and national stakeholders and organizations involved with the production, pest management (emphasis upon IPM strategies including selection of disease resistant varieties, planting clean seed, suitable crop rotation, scouting and confirmation of economic threats from disease organisms and insect pests, and timely application of pesticides as needed) and marketing of allium crops such as onion and garlic. This has involved reports, web site updates, predictive modeling, and conference calls every two weeks during the course of each growing season. We anticipate having a preliminary DNA macroarray available by 2014 for the priority bulb rot pathogens for in vitro and in vivo testing.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The outcomes of this project are expected to provide enhanced pest and disease scouting protocols, more rapid diagnostic confirmation, and more timely pest management strategies for implementation by onion growers in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and throughout the United States. The allium industry representing onion and garlic crops has been impacted by the Onion ipmPIPE grant of $375,000 plus PI resources of an additional $500,000/year with a conservative return of 5 percent or $52 million for an annual Return on Investment of 50 to 1 by reducing losses from diseases and pests affecting: Onion with 170,000 Acres valued at $860 million value ($43 million return) and Garlic with 30,000 Acres valued at $172 million value ($9 million return). Additional savings include reduced application of pesticides (e.g., fungicides, insecticides) when insect and disease pressures were below economic or injury thresholds; data unavailable on specific amounts of pesticides applied or not during this reporting period. A bulletin was developed by project personnel during 2013 to provide an updated, comprehensive, and authoritative account of onion plant health and production practices commonly employed throughout irrigated regions of North America. It is national in scope and practical in emphasis, and has already been delivered to more than 3000 stakeholders throughout the U.S. It is designed to assist in the diagnosis of onion diseases and pests whether in the field, laboratory, or diagnostic clinic, and to provide an overview of pest management strategies that can be employed to reduce their impacts. The bulletin contains excerpts from various ipmPIPE resources developed during the last three years including the popular series of diagnostic cards, plant damage scales, pest distribution profiles across the U.S., risk assessment models, and integrated pest management strategies.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Boateng, C. O., and Schwartz, H. F. 2013. Temporal and localized dynamics of Iris yellow spot virus within tissues of infected onion plants. Southwestern Entomologist: 38:183-199. Buckland, K. J. Reeve, D. Alston, C. Nischwitz, and D. Drost. 2013. Effects of nitrogen fertility and crop rotation on onion growth and yield, thrips densities, iris yellow spot virus and soil properties. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 177: 63-74 Schwartz, H. F. and Bartolo, M. E. (editors). 2013. Onion Health Management and Production. 104 pp. Colorado State University Bulletin. Fort Collins, CO.


Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The long-term goal is to optimize sound pest management decision-making in onion by the development and deployment of a sustainable online information management platform called the Onion ipmPIPE (Onion integrated pest management Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education). Objective 1: ipmPIPE Network and Operations to (a) Validate scouting protocols for priority pests of onion system; (b) Provide management tools to stakeholders that relate descriptive stages of plant growth to weather, pest and disease thresholds with timely management strategies; (c) Enhance management resources to include an image gallery to aid in-field and laboratory identification of key diseases and pests which will be linked to a wiki-information tool that will provide additional background information on biology and management; (d) Add economic monitoring of specialty crop markets to help stakeholders make more timely and informed decisions for crop production and pest management; and (e) Assess the adoption level of these tools and resources used by growers, advisors and other key stakeholders. Objective 2: Innovative Pathogen Diagnostic Development and Validation to (f) Develop and enhance a DNA macroarray detection method for disease organisms affecting onions in the field and early storage; and (g) Validate the macroarray as a detection tool. Objective 3: Incorporation of Disease Risk Decisions with Economic Justification to (h) Implement and validate Risk Assessment Models for pests and diseases; and (i) Provide a real-time price discovery tool to help onion stakeholders make more timely decisions in relation to disease and pest management options and strategies. Outputs will include a measure of information technology usage as determined by the number of user hits on the Onion websites. Hits per year will be analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness and preference of different formats. Usage of features such as the image gallery, wiki pages and crop marketing resources will also be tracked to measure their effectiveness. Positive results for pest detection will help determine significant local foci of pest incidence which will be used to improve pest management time lines and efficacy. New and improved pest diagnostic techniques will be promoted and validated by the virus, bacterial, and fungal disease laboratories working with onion specialists across the U.S. They will also act as repositories for virus, bacterial and fungal isolates, respectively, under appropriate PPQ permits. The development of a DNA macroarray for the detection of fungal, bacterial and yeast pathogens of onion bulbs began by requesting bacterial and fungal isolates of different taxa associated with onion. A total of 341 bacterial and 190 fungal isolates were obtained from 13 states. An onion grower survey was designed and administered to 1300 onion growers to assess their use of the website and to facilitate subsequent impact assessment. More than 300 responses were received and entered into a computer program for analysis. A randomized control trial was designed to test the impacts of newsletter alerts to draw grower attention to the ipmPIPE website. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals who worked on this project included the following: D. Alston, J. Alwang, M. Bartolo, T. Blunt, B. Bunn, C. Cramer, W. Cranshaw, J. Davidson, M. Derie, K. Douce, D. Drost, L. J. du Toit, T. Gourd, B. Gugino, B. Hammon, J. Hardin, M. Hausbeck, G. Jiblian, G. Lafferty, J. LaForest, M. McMillan, S. K. Mohan, J. Morrice, B. Nault, C. Nischwitz, G. Norton, H. Pappu, R. Sampangi, B. Schroeder, H. Schwartz, W. Secor, S. Szostek, N. Tisserat, M. Uchanski, J. VanKirk, T. Waters, C. Wohleb & Stakeholders. Stakeholders who produce, store, pack and ship onions in the USA are the target audience for this research endeavor. Greater than 66% of USA storage onions are produced, stored and packed in the western United States, so a majority of the target audience is in the western USA. This project relies on extensive stakeholder participation in university (e.g., CSU, NMSU, WSU) Onion Cultivar and Storage Demonstration Trials to provide valuable opportunities for stakeholder assessment and feedback on progress towards timely pest management strategies and a functional macroarray for storage rot pathogens. Individuals that worked on the project included all principal investigators, their research and extension associates, technicians, graduate students and undergraduate students. Collaboration and training were initiated with various organizations including the Colorado Onion Association, New Mexico Dry Onion Commission, Michigan Onion Committee, Utah Onion Association, National Onion Association, and Regional W1008 Research and Extension Committee members throughout the United States. Additional contacts included numerous Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and other onion growers in all major onion growing counties of the U.S., inspectors with state departments of agriculture, extension agents, field consultants with seed companies, pesticide companies, pesticide applicators, and crop consulting companies. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience included onion growers, processors, crop consultants, field representatives of onion seed and chemical companies, State Department of Agriculture field inspectors, Extension faculty, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students involved with production and pest management of onions and other allium crops in Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and other onion producing states in the U.S. The project has also served to connect onion researchers at private companies, USDA-ARS and Universities in and around major onion production regions in the United States, further encouraging communication and information dissemination. Presentations have been made to state, regional and national meetings by project PIs; examples include the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids, MI. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: During its first year, the Onion ipmPIPE project has evolved in its scope and interactivity with state, regional, and national stakeholders and organizations involved with the production, pest management (emphasis upon IPM strategies including selection of disease resistant varieties, planting clean seed, suitable crop rotation, scouting and confirmation of economic threats from disease organisms and insect pests, and timely application of pesticides as needed) and marketing of allium crops such as onion and garlic. This has involved reports, web site updates, predictive modeling, and conference calls every two weeks during the course of each growing season. We anticipate having a preliminary DNA macroarray available by end of summer 2012 for the priority bulb rot pathogens for in vitro and in vivo testing.

Impacts
The allium industry representing onion and garlic crops has been impacted by the Onion ipmPIPE grant of $375,000 plus PI resources of an additional $500,000/year with a conservative return of 5 percent or $52 million for an annual Return on Investment of 50 to 1 by reducing losses from diseases and pests affecting: Onion with 170,000 Acres valued at $860 million value ($43 million return) and Garlic with 30,000 Acres valued at $172 million value ($9 million return). Additional savings include reduced application of pesticides (e.g., fungicides, insecticides) when insect and disease pressures were below economic or injury thresholds; data unavailable on specific amounts of pesticides applied or not during this reporting period. A series of 8 field cards covering onion growth stages, diseases (biotic and abiotic), and insects (pests and vectors) was printed and delivered to more than 8,000 stakeholders throughout North American allium-growing regions including 10 states in the U.S.; in addition these cards are available online. This series has enhanced the accuracy and efficiency of communications and record-keeping by project personnel and stakeholders. Field sampling and diagnostic protocols were developed for project use with priority pests and diseases; resulting in more uniform, timely and accurate identification and enumeration of pests and diseases affecting allium crops. Image resources (e.g., interlinked web or wiki format hosted by Bugwood) were developed for 20 priority diseases and pests of alliums with high quality images provided by project participants and stakeholders; web pages were accessed more than 5,000 times during 2011. Additional links have been made to other educational resources including extension biweekly newsletter on project reports and weather patterns by production region, fact sheets, narrated videos on diseases, and pest management guidelines. These educational resources and progress have been shared with growers and other stakeholders at numerous commodity meetings and field days in all participating states. The survey data will help refine an approach to reach more onion growers with the website. An example of each state's outcome and impact with stakeholders is provided by Utah colleagues as follows; similar reports available from other states including Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Washington: 160 face-to-face contacts with grower and other onion industry personnel, state and federal agency staff, Extension faculty, and researchers - onion ipmPIPE project results and accomplishments were shared (Utah Onion Association annual winter educational meeting; Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America, Portland, Oregon; Utah Onion Association field days; American Phytopathological Society regional division and national meetings, Sacramento, California, Providence, Rhode Island. A total of 512 webpage hits for the Utah State University Extension Onion Thrips and Iris Yellow Spot Virus Fact Sheets.

Publications

  • Schroeder, B.K., VanKirk, J., Lafferty, J., Douce, G.K., Jibilian, G., Norton, G.W., and Schwartz, H.F. 2011. Overview of the Onion ipmPIPE & the development of innovative disease diagnostic tools for onion diseases. Phytopathology 101:S161. Poster at the National Meeting of the American Phytopathological Society in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 6-10, 2011.
  • Schroeder, B.K., Humann, J.L., and du Toit, L.J. 2012. Effects of postharvest onion curing parameters on the development of sour skin and slippery skin in storage. Plant Disease 96:1548-1555.
  • Schwartz, H. F. 2011. Web site dedicated to information and resources on onion pest management, thrips and IYSV. http://www.alliumnet.com/index.htm.
  • Bag, S., Schwartz, H. F., and Pappu, H. R. 2012. Identification and characterization of biologically distinct isolates of Iris yellow spot virus (genus Tospovirus, family Bunyaviridae), a serious pathogen of onion. Eur. J. Plant Pathol. doi:10.1007/s10658-012-0026-1.
  • Cramer, C.S., Bag, S., Schwartz, H.F., and Pappu, H.R. 2011. Susceptibility of onion relatives (Allium spp.) to Iris yellow spot virus. Plant Disease Note: DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-11-10-0819.
  • Hausbeck, M.K. 2011. Downy mildew detected on onions so take action now. MSU Extension News for Agriculture, Vegetables: Jul 15. Online. Website: msue.anr.msu.edu/news/downy_mildew_detected_on_onions_so_take_action_ now.
  • Hausbeck, M. 2011. Know your onion diseases and how to manage them. MSU Extension News for Agriculture, Vegetables: Jun 22. Online. Website: msue.anr.msu.edu/news/know_your_onion_diseases_and_how_to_manage_them .
  • Onion ipmPIPE Diagnostic Pocket Series - 2 page diagnostic cards, www.alliumnet.com/IPMPipe.html Du Toit, L.J., and Schwartz, H.F. 2011. Storage Fungal Diseases. Mohan, S.R., Hausbeck, and Tisserat, N.A. 2011. Foliar Fungal Diseases. Nault, B., Cranshaw, W., and Alston, D. 2011. Onion Insect Pests. Pappu. H.R. 2011. Virus Diseases. Schroeder, B.K., and Schwartz, H.F. 2011. Bacterial Diseases. Schwartz, H.F. 2011. Storm Damaged Onions. Schwartz, H.F., and Cramer, C.S. 2011. Bulb Growth Stages of Onion. Schwartz, H.F., and Tisserat, N.A. 2011. Soil-borne Diseases.
  • Rodriguez, L.M., Wiriyajitsomboon, P., and Hausbeck, M.K. 2011. Anthracnose and pink root, can they be controlled Pages 8-11 in: Onion Session Summaries, Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo, Dec. 6-8, Grand Rapids, MI. Online.
  • Schwartz, H.F., Schroeder, B.K., VanKirk, J., Douce, G.K., Jibilian, G., Lafferty, J., and Norton, G.W. 2012. Onion ipmPIPE network, interactive resource for onion stakeholders. Proc. National Meeting of the American Phytopathological Society, Providence, RI, August 4-8, 2012. Phytopathology 102:Sxxx (Abstr. 308-P).
  • Secor, W.G. 2012. Two Essays on Evaluation Challenges in Integrated Pest Management: An Evaluation Design for the Onion ipmPIPE and Identifying Womens Crops and Agricultural Technologies. M.S. Thesis, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.
  • Szostek, S. A., and Schwartz, H. F. 2011. A new research technique for thrips and IYSV. Onion World, Vol. 27:14-15.
  • Vahling-Armstrong, C.M., Humann, J.L., Lupien, S., Dugan, F., du Toit, L.J., and Schroeder, B.K. 2012. DNA macroarray for the detection of fungal onion bulb rot pathogens. Phytopathology 102:Sxxx (Abstr.).


Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The long-term goal is to optimize sound pest management decision-making in onion by the development and deployment of a sustainable online information management platform called the Onion ipmPIPE (Onion integrated pest management Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education). Objective 1: ipmPIPE Network and Operations to (a) Validate scouting protocols for priority pests of onion system; (b) Provide management tools to stakeholders that relate descriptive stages of plant growth to weather, pest and disease thresholds with timely management strategies; (c) Enhance management resources to include an image gallery to aid in-field and laboratory identification of key diseases and pests which will be linked to a wiki-information tool that will provide additional background information on biology and management; (d) Add economic monitoring of specialty crop markets to help stakeholders make more timely and informed decisions for crop production and pest management; and (e) Assess the adoption level of these tools and resources used by growers, advisors and other key stakeholders. Objective 2: Innovative Pathogen Diagnostic Development and Validation to (f) Develop and enhance a DNA macroarray detection method for bacterial disease complexes, viruses, and fungal disease organisms affecting onions in the field and early storage; and (g) Validate the macroarray as a detection tool that is specific for the target organisms emphasized in this proposal and does not cross-react with non-target organisms. Objective 3: Incorporation of Disease Risk Decisions with Economic Justification to (h) Implement and validate Risk Assessment Models for thrips, Iris yellow spot virus, bacterial diseases and foliar fungal diseases; and (i) Provide a real-time price discovery tool for specialty crop commodities to help onion stakeholders make more timely decisions in relation to disease and pest management options and strategies. Outputs will include a measure of information technology usage as determined by the number of user hits on the Onion websites. Hits per year will be analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness and preference of different formats. Usage of features such as the image gallery, wiki pages and crop marketing resources will also be tracked to measure their effectiveness. Positive results for pest detection will help determine significant local foci of pest incidence which will be used to improve pest management time lines and efficacy. New and improved pest diagnostic techniques will be promoted and validated by the virus, bacterial, and fungal disease laboratories working with onion specialists across the U.S. They will also act as repositories for virus, bacterial and fungal isolates, respectively, under appropriate PPQ permits. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals that worked on the project included all principal investigators, their research and extension associates, technicians, graduate students and undergraduate students. Collaboration and training were initiated with various organizations including the Colorado Onion Association, National Onion Association, and Regional W1008 Research and Extension Committee members throughout the United States. Additional contacts included numerous Colorado and other onion growers in all major onion growing counties of the U.S., field consultants with seed companies, pesticide companies, pesticide applicators, and crop consulting companies. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience included onion growers, processors, crop consultants, field representatives of onion seed and chemical companies, in addition to graduate and undergraduate students. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The outputs of this project are expected to provide enhanced pest and disease scouting protocols, more rapid diagnostic confirmation, and more timely pest management strategies for implementation by onion growers in Colorado and throughout the United States.

Publications

  • Schroeder, B.K., Schwartz, H.F., VanKirk, J., Lafferty, J., Douce, G.K., Jibilian, G., and Norton, G.W. 2010. ipmPIPE & Innovative Disease Diagnostic Tools for Onion Diseases. Proc. 2010 National Allium Research Conference, Reno, Nevada, Dec. 9-10, 2010. http://www.unce.unr.edu/adhoc/narc2010/agenda/.