- Posted by: Gale Perez
From the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) Graduate Student Organization newsletter (Oct. 2023)
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Graduate Student of the Month
Matthew (Matt) Fatino, Ph.D. Candidate with the Hanson Lab at UC Davis, is the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) graduate student of the month.
What is your long-term goal?
My long-term goal is to land a career in industry or the public sector that enables me to work with growers and stakeholders and help address the issues they face. I have been fortunate to...
- Author: Emily Dooley
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Hanson and team battle invasive species
At first glance, Orobanche ramosa looks like an interesting blossoming plant, one that could add a unique flair to flower arrangements. But it's a parasitic weed that attaches to roots, sucks out nutrients and is threatening California's $1.5 billion processing tomato industry.
The weed's tiny seeds — smaller than finely ground pepper — can survive in soil for many decades and be carried by wind, water, soil transfers and even footwear. If found attached to crop plants and reported to the state, farmers are required to destroy the field before harvest, taking large losses not covered by...
/h2>- Author: Pershang Hosseini
- Author: Alison Colwell
- Author: Bradley Hanson
- Posted by: Gale Perez
The Orobanchaceae family comprises 270 holoparasitic species that cannot photosynthesize. Instead, they rely entirely on the host plant roots for nutrition, and can produce great numbers of minute, dust-like seeds that last for years in the soil. This family contains some of the most serious agricultural parasites in the genera of Phelipanche and Orobanche some of which are present in California. The different species can be distinguished by the degree of branching of their stems and presence/absence of bracteoles at the base of the flower Orobanche species have unbranched stems and no bracteoles, while Phelipanche species feature branched stems with bracteoles. In this paper, we discuss three...
- Author: Pershang Hosseini
- Author: Bradley Hanson
- Author: Mohsen B. Mesgaran
- Posted by: Gale Perez
California is the largest producer of processing tomato in the US (Winans et al. 2020). However, the profitability of the tomato industry in California is seriously threatened due to the presence of the parasitic weed branched and Egyptian broomrape (https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=50241). These weeds can severely damage the host reducing the aerial biomass and leaf chlorophyll content (Mauromicale et al. 2008) with yield losses of up to 80% (Eizenberg and Goldwasser 2018).
Broomrape produces hundreds of thousands of tiny seeds (0.2 – 0.4 mm), which can be transported easily by humans, water, wind, and animals (Eizenberg et...
- Author: Matthew Fatino
- Author: Bradley Hanson
- Posted by: Gale Perez
Branched broomrape is a parasitic plant that is an “A-listed” noxious weed in California, requiring crop destruction and a hold order to be placed on reported fields. It has been reported in several commercial tomato fields in Yolo County in recent years and is of growing concern to the California tomato industry. Until recently, there have been no registered chemistries to control branched or Egyptian broomrape in California.
Rimsulfuron, marketed as Matrix SG by Corteva, is registered on tomatoes in California is widely used both PRE...