Late Breaking news!
Sep 2008 - - The season continued to be a low aphid year. There was no evidence of virus disease or presence of viruses in the 30 field sites the team sampled in July.
July 20, 2008 - Pea aphid counts began to increase in late June, but overall remained low. Sampling is being concluded this week and traps will be removed. Virus incidence in aphids has been extremely low. Virus symptoms have not been observed in sampled fields. A few plants appear symptomatic in Spillman Research Farm this week, and these will be tested for virus this week. Overall, based on these data, risk of virus disease in the Palouse appears to be virtually nil.
June 23, 2008 - Pea aphid counts are rising slowly in the traps. The very first aphid to test positive for virus (PEMV) occurred in the Albion area in the 16 June sample.
June 17, 2008 - Pea aphids are increasing slightly, to about 3-4 per sweep in many locations. Virus has been detected in two aphids collected from alfalfa fields in the Palouse, but so far not in any pea fields sampled.
June 15, 2008 - Pea aphids remain at very low levels in the traps (see This Year 2008 Locations). We have yet to detect virus in any trapped aphids. We have detected PEMV in just one aphid collected from alfalfa. Based on the similarities in aphid and virus incidence this year and last, it appears that 2008 will be very low risk of virus in pea and lentil on the Palouse. We plan to continue monitoring aphids in the traps and in the fields until the second week of July. Data will be updated as we do so. Happy fathers day!
June 5, 2008 - Pea aphids are beginning to arrive in the trap network (see This Year 2008 Locations). The numbers per trap are about 1/2 of what they were at this date in 2007, due evidently to the continuing cool and wet weather in the region. So far we have not detected virus in any of the aphids collected. Sweep net samples at 25 sites (all those shown on the Locations map), have collected no or few aphids at many sites. Maximum numbers observed are 1 aphid per sweep.
June 1, 2008 - The project will receive a boost in the form of a generous grant from the USDA-CSREES RAMP (Risk Assessment and Mediation Program). This grant will arrive in the fall of 2008 and allow us to continue to develop the risk forecasting system. It also includes funding to improve aphid management decision making, assess methods for pea aphid control and accelerate breeding efforts to provide virus-resistant varieties for the Palouse and elsewhere. A full description of the objectives of this proposal is forthcoming. We will be holding meetings with producers to seek input and report on the activities of this project.