Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) is a key challenge for cereal growers, one that has both weather and geography-related themes.
E.g., crops grown in coastal locations are more prone to aphid attack due to the fact that frost is less of an issue in such areas.
On the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Teagasc’s Louise McNamara discussed the work underway to address the disease.
“Our work is focused on understanding the aphid, the virus, the plant and how they all interact.
“It is this interaction that ultimately determines the yield losses incurred.”
A sequencing survey carried across the country has determined the main aphid types found in Ireland.
Work has also been carried out by Teagasc to ascertain the level of insecticide resistance that already exists within grain aphid populations here.
Complementing this is a focus on new cereal varieties and tools that can be used by growers in the field to help in the fight against BYDV.
Monitoring BYDV trends
Teagasc manages three aphid suction towers.
“These act like very large hoovers, sucking in aphids that are flying above them. The towers are located at Ashtown in Co. Dublin, Oak Park in Co. Carlow and at a location in Co. Cork.
“They operate 365 days of the year. The role of the towers is to monitor aphid migration.
“As a consequence, we can capture the aphids, identify which form of the BYDV virus they are carrying and check for the various levels of resistance that’s out there.”
The results achieved from the suction tower assessments are compared with the data generated from in-field monitoring.
This latter approach comprises the use of yellow aphid traps and the recording of visual assessments by farmers participating in this project on the ground.
“We are in a position to quantify the number of aphids caught using the various trapping systems,” McNamara added.
“But aphid numbers, on their own, are not a direct indicator of the BYDV threat they pose. It is the level of active BYDV virus within the aphids that represents the actual level of risk posed to plants.”
It is now a priority for Teagasc to speed up the means by which the actual virus threat posed by aphids can be quantified.
This information can then be disseminated to cereal growers who have the final choice of using, or not using, an insecticide.