A Taste of Wellness for Savoury and Snacks
Givaudan
Building on previous studies that reveal milk could help in the fight against mildew disease on squash plants in South America, researchers Georgina Drury and Dr Peter Kettlewell at Harper Adams claim that mildew on wheat plants can also be greatly reduced by spraying the plants with milk.
"Our results show that milk could potentially be used to improve plant health of wheat if disease becomes severe, especially on organic crops where chemical fungicides are not permitted," said Dr Peter Kettlewell.
Milk is currently used to treat this disease by grape vine growers in Australia, added Dr. Kettlewell .
Almost all wheat crops get some infection from the fungus causing the white, fluffy powdery mildew disease, damaging both the crop and the bottom line for farmers as the crop yield is reduced.
In the UK, plant protection products require registration under UK pesticides legislation before they are advertised, sold, supplied, stored or used.
Full findings for the study are published in the current issue of Agrochemicals and Cultivars 24:26-27.