Book now
Thursday 28 November 2024, 9.10am – 2.15pm
Technical webinar on soft fruit research
A link for the webinar will be sent to you closer to the event
This year’s annual soft fruit day will be presented by Niab as a virtual event to provide the industry with the latest results of a wide range of research projects led by Niab and other researchers. The event will include information on research to optimise strawberry and raspberry propagation to maximise yield potential, precision management of strawberry and raspberry, coir recycling, improved management of soft fruit pests and diseases, and the latest developments to improve management of spotted wing drosophila.
The programme
09:10 Introduction and welcome
Session 1: New developments and resource use efficiency (1hr 25)
09:20 How Growing Kent & Medway has been supporting soft fruit businesses
09:30 Introducing the Soft Fruit Genetic Improvement Network (Xiangming Xu, Niab)
09:45 Matching nitrogen supply to demand in container grown raspberry (Mark Else, Niab)
10:00 Optimising the propagation environment for strawberry (Katia Zacharaki, Niab)
10:15 The WET Centre – what have we learnt since 2016? (Trevor Wignall, Niab)
10:35 The effects of short-term water stress on raspberry (Ece Moustaffa, Niab)
10:45 Break
Session 2: Novel approaches to sustainable soft fruit production (1hr 35)
11:00 Optimising raspberry propagation for improved plant uniformity (Louisa Robinson-Boyer, Niab)
11:15 Recent developments in coir recycling and Phytophthora management (Mat Papp-Rupar, Niab)
11:35 Improving pollinator management and precision pollination in soft fruit (Sarah Arnold, Niab)
11:50 The impact of landscape complexity on pest management in soft fruit (Celine Silva, Niab)
12:05 Investigating biocontrol methods for large raspberry aphid under protection (Francis Wamonje, Niab)
12:20 A novel approach to managing earwigs in strawberry crops (Rachel Turner, Russell IPM)
12:35 Lunch break
Session 3: Developments in soft fruit pest control and pollinators (1hr)
13:15 Sterile insect technique for SWD control in blackberry (Rob Moar, BigSis)
13:30 Adopting augmentoria to deliver parasitoids for SWD control (Francesca Elliott, Niab)
13:45 Developing a push-pull approach to SWD management (Adam Walker, Niab)
14:00 Screening strawberry and raspberry varieties for resistance to SWD (Feli Fernandez, Niab)
14:15 Close
BASIS and NRoSO points are being applied for