Adam Schneider is studying the root cause of a branched broomrape, which has caused problems for California’s $1.5 Billion processing tomato industry.
Schneider says in fields that are heavily infected by this parasite, crop yields can be up to 95% lost.
While the outbreak has been somewhat contained, it still ravages fields that it reaches.
“This is a species that kind of like mistletoe goes in that they will grow into the host plant. In this case, the host is tomato in the United States, but in its native range in Europe it also parasitizes in a number of other crops,” says Schneider.
Schneider says the best way to prevent the spread of branched broomrape is to be careful about cross contaminating when moving equipment.
He also says it is a challenge to see the spread before it is too late because the plant spends most of its lifecycle completely underground.
Source - https://www.weau.com
