NC226: Development of Pest Management Strategies for Forage Alfalfa Persistence
Statement of Issues and Justification
Alfalfa is the principal forage component of a wide variety of agricultural production and conservation systems throughout the U.S. In 1997, 25 million acres of alfalfa were harvested with a conservative estimate of cash value of 10 billion dollars. This estimate does not include the value-added contribution of alfalfa to the ruminant livestock sector of the agricultural economy, for which 80% of nutrition resources come from forage like alfalfa, and with a value in 1997 of approximately 70 billion dollars. In addition, alfalfa contributes to the sustainability of rotational crop production systems because of its perennial nature and its ability to fix nitrogen. Alfalfa is grown m a variety of cropping systems, including both hay and grazing systems and as a monoculture or as an alfalfa/grass diculture. The varied cropping systems represent the reality of the diverse economic and ecological conditions that affect agronomic and pest management decisions.
The overall goal of the proposed regional research project is to address a critical concern of farmers: the significant reduction in alfalfa stand life caused by pests. Although alfalfa can persist in stands for many years, ecological and physiological factors act in concert with the pest community (e.g., weeds, pathogens, arthropods, nematodes) to shorten the life of stands The resulting lack of persistence significantly reduces profit and, in locations and periods of severe stress, effectively prevents profitable cultivation of alfalfa. The mission of the project is to improve persistence of forage alfalfa stands through the implementation of ecologically-based pest management.
Stresses imposed by such factors as unfavorable growing conditions, interference by weeds, and injury by pathogens, nematodes, and arthropod pests significantly shorten stand life. At times single factors such as a key pest species may threaten productive stand life but more typically loss of stands results from stresses imposed by several factors. Similarly, specific crop management practices affect not only the crop directly, but the interaction between pest populations and crop. Also, the nature of these effects must be studied from a regional or even national, perspective for a clear understanding. Thus, the complex issue of alfalfa persistence requires the input of a multidisciplinary and multistate team. As a result, this project will focus on an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to crop and pest management for improving stand longevity.
JUSTIFICATION: We have assembled a multidisciplinary research team with representation from 16 states to address key areas that will lead to improved alfalfa stand persistence. By focusing on the crop from physiological, organismal, and population perspectives, we plan to study complex interactions involving both biotic and abiotic factors, as well as crop management practices that impact alfalfa growth, survivorship, and demography. Clearly, a comprehensive, multistate effort is needed to address such broad areas of research. A Regional Project will provide base funding and an administrative structure to bring together a national team of researches to develop a framework for such studies, including the development of methods and the design of necessary experiments. With assurance of a five-year Project, we can leverage our activities with other short-term funding opportunities, such as the Regional IPM Grants Program National Research Initiative, or industry partnerships.
Although the emphasis of the Regional Research Project is on specific research objectives the scope includes the synthesis and implementation of crop and pest management strategies for diverse production systems. As a result, the project will be designed for participation by not only research scientists, but also extension specialists, crop consultants representatives from agribusiness, and farmers. The goal is to attain comprehensive input for planning, implementation, and evaluation. These groups will also be involved, as appropriate with planning and conducting of the research. This design assures effective implementation of the projects and the best possible acceptance of the outcomes by end-users.
A key feature of the project is enhanced communication of information across professional groups: e.g., research and extension specialists, crop and IPM consultants, agribusiness representatives, and farmers/decision-makers. A wide range of scientific disciplines will be represented: crop protection disciplines such as plant pathology, weed science and entomology; crop management disciplines such as agronomy, agricultural economics, soil science and meteorology. Mark McCaslin, President, Forage Genetics, has indicated a strong commitment to attend Project meetings and to maintain communication between public research and the private seed industry. Needs assessment, the implementation of programs, the delivery of existing information, and the generation of new information are all elements that will be integrated through communication.
The procedures for our objective-oriented research reflect three key elements of regional projects. First, we will conduct cooperative multistate research that involves shared protocols to achieve specific objectives. Second, discipline-oriented research will be conducted at individual states in a manner that provides knowledge adaptable to alfalfa production and pest management systems throughout the U.S. Third, to enhance effectiveness, we will use the project for a synthesis of data and ideas across disciplines and the public/private interface. We believe that all three elements are critical for improving the persistence of forage alfalfa stands.
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