The Effects of Photo, Physical and Mechanical (PPM) Pre-treatments in Controlling Certain Pests and Diseases in Carrots, Daucus carota L. var. Sativus cv. Carson

Abstract

Pests and diseases have a significant economic impact on yield, quality and sale of processing carrots. In an effort to combat certain pests and diseases, the effects of photo, physical and mechanical (PPM) treatments on carrot (Daucus carota L. var. Sativus cv. Carson) were investigated. Generally, the incidence of certain pests and diseases was reduced through a variety of PPM treatments during two separate field experiments. However, not all of the reductions were statistically significant owing in large part to the low level of incidence of certain pests and diseases during the growth trials. To counteract this difficulty, experiments were conducted to determine the conditions necessary to induce blight in a controlled laboratory environment, with little success. In addition, HPLC-based detection of the defence hormone, salicylic acid, in carrot seedlings was established to help characterize the effects of PPM treatments from a biochemical perspective in future experiments.