Zespri and KVH hosted the annual Psa R&D update last week which saw scientists share with growers and industry key outcomes from the research portfolio to help growers refine their on-orchard Psa disease management programme.

Growers heard from a range of speakers during the day, including Kabir Shahjahan from Plant & Food Research, who presented updates on his continuing research into Hayward bud rot, as well as new research into Gold3 budrot, and how that is affected by Bounty and Bruno rootstocks. Final results from the four-year GoldFutures programme were delivered by Phil Elmer from Plant & Food Research. Sonia Whiteman from Zespri presented research on the risk of frost, and the development and updates to the KVH Psa Risk Model on behalf of Rob Beresford of Plant & Food Research. Zespri also provided updates on the future of bactericides, before the day ended with a presentation from Linda Peacock from KVH that summarised how this new research fits into Psa good practice management.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions and increased interest in the event, the update was opened to online participants for the first time and recorded. You can watch video from the day on the Zespri Canopy website here or on the KVH YouTube channel here. A summary of key points, and each presentation is also available below.

Presentations:

• Psa R&D Update - Presentation Key Points
• Psa Research Strategy – Sonia Whiteman, Zespri
• When is Psa infecting Hayward buds? – Kabir Shahjahan, Plant & Food Research
• Is Gold3 budrot a thing? – Kabir Shahjahan, Plant & Food Research
• Frost – Psa risk factor or not? – Rob Beresford, Plant & Food Research
• Bounty vs Bruno – what is my risk? – Kabir Shahjahan, Plant & Food Research
• GoldFutures – Reflections of a four year journey – Phil Elmer, Plant & Food Research
• What’s new (and old) with the Psa Risk Model – Rob Beresford, Plant & Food Research
• The future of bactericides in the Crop Protection Standard – Melanie Walker, Zespri
• Bringing it all together – Psa good practice – Linda Peacock, KVH