Life Sciences Commons^™

Plant Compound Pest Control In California Strawberry (Fragaria × Ananassa) Production, Eli Mahanes Weissman

Master's Theses

Allelopathy occurs when one organism releases a compound into the environment that affects the functioning of another organism. Scientists have long suspected that alleopathic plant compounds could offer novel, softer chemistries to the ongoing battle of controlling pests in agricultural fields. Strawberry growers rely on toxic fumigants to kill soilborne fungal pests, weeds, nematodes, and insects. Increased regulations have reduced the use of fumigants (including methyl bromide), and strawberry growers need new sustainable pest control solutions. We selected four putative allelochemicals with known fungicidal and herbicidal activity (ferulic acid, gallic acid, juglone, and p-Coumaric acid). We assessed the pesticidal activity …