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CapitalPress.com
March 27, 2015
People & Places
Serving replant disease a meal of mustard
Mark Mazzola finds
ways to avoid costly
condition that
arises in fruit trees
Established 1928
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By DAN WHEAT
Yellow and white mustard seed
meal can be used to combat
replant disease in apple trees.
Flake form is at left. Pellet form
is at right.
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
Mark Mazzola has been in-
vestigating replant disease
in apple orchards for 20
years and says he’s found a
solution that may work bet-
ter than soil fumigation.
A combination of yel-
low and white mustard seed
meals combats replant dis-
ease longer than fumigants
by addressing the whole
ecosystem of soil rather
than just its chemistry, says
Mazzola, a research plant
pathologist at USTA’s Ag-
riculture Research Service
Tree Fruit Research Labora-
tory in Wenatchee.
Mustard seed meal also
results in better tree growth
and fruit yields than fumiga-
tion, he said.
Replant disease is perva-
sive when replanting an or-
chard and is a “major imped-
iment to the establishment
of an economically viable
orchard,” Mazzola said.
Replant disease is a
build-up of micro-organ-
isms in soil from old tree
roots that hampers the
growth and productivity of
new trees. It wasn’t much
known before a disastrous
freeze in 1968 and 1969
killed a lot of orchards in
Central Washington.
Growers tore out dead
trees and replanted new
ones and began having more
problems with diseases, Tom
Auvil, research horticulturist
at the Washington Tree Fruit
Research Commission in
Wenatchee, has said.
The industry turned to
fumigation but it doesn’t
always work because tem-
perature, soil texture and
soil moisture all can hin-
der its effectiveness, Auvil
said.
Mazzola,
now
54,
was hired at the ARS in
Wenatchee in 1995, primar-
ily to investigate replant dis-
ease. He has focused on ap-
ples but looked at pears and
cherries, which are suscepti-
ble to the same pathogens.
He believes his under-
graduate work in forest bi-
ology and strong foundation
Capital Press
Photos by Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Mark Mazzola, USDA Agricultural Research Service plant pathologist, looks at Geneva rootstock similar
to what he’s used in replant disease trials. Shashika Hewavitharana, Washington State University doctor-
al student, works on anaerobic soil disinfestation in the background in Wenatchee, Wash., March 17.
Western Innovator
Mark Mazzola
Age: 54
Born and raised: Boston, Mass.
Family: Wife, Michelle Mazzola, a
funding consultant.
Education: Bachelor’s in forest biology, University of Vermont,
1983; master’s in forest pathology, University of Vermont, 1985;
doctorate in plant pathology, Washington State University, 1990.
Occupation: Research plant pathologist, USDA ARS Tree Fruit
Research Laboratory, Wenatchee, since 1995.
Previous work: Research plant pathologist, USDA ARS, Pullman,
Wash., 1993-1995; post-doctorate research associate, Kansas
State University, 1990-1993; manager, Nematode Diagnostic
Laboratory, University of Vermont, 1985-1986.
Quote: “My interests were in natural resources and that related to
my first hiking trip in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.”
in ecology gives him a broad
perspective in looking at re-
plant disease and soils.
“Most people in this re-
search come from agricul-
tural programs like plant
and soil science. It’s rela-
tively rare to find people
with an ecology background
in plant pathology. I try to
understand how soils func-
tion from a biological and
ecological perspective,” he
said.
Many diverse organisms
are at work in soils, he said.
He has managed a nem-
atode
diagnostics
lab,
worked on rust fungi, soil
bore fungi and bacteria and
then studied the molecular
genetics of bacteria that are
pathogens of rice.
“You don’t find a lot of
people who have worked
on trees, beans, rice, wheat
and now apples. We get
pigeon-holed quickly,” he
said.
In looking at replant dis-
ease, Mazzola first identi-
fied four fungal organisms
and the lesion nematode
as the main problems. He
tested several cover crops
to control the pathogens
on the ground before it was
replanted as orchard but
without the results he was
looking for. He left ground
fallow for up to three years
without a reduction in dis-
ease development.
About 15 years ago,
there was a lot of interest
in using mustards, canola,
broccoli and other brassica
plants as green manure in
soil for their biologically
active chemistries.
“But you can’t produce
enough biomass to obtain
the chemistry needed to
suppress plant pathogens.
Seed meal possesses higher
quantities of these chemis-
tries,” Mazzola said.
He began experiment-
ing with seed meal from
various brassica crops and
found none of them alone
controlled replant organ-
isms. Then he tested various
combinations and ratios. He
landed on a 50-50 mix of
yellow and white mustard
seed meal applied in the fall
before a spring planting.
The mix produces chem-
icals that kill the pathogens
but also changes the micro-
biology of the soil to make
it more resistant to re-infes-
tation.
A field trial of Jona-
gold trees on Geneva 11
rootstock, planted in 2010,
resulted in a 45 percent in-
crease in fruit yield. Gala
on Malling 9 and Geneva
11, also planted in 2010, in
the mustard seed meal treat-
ed soil yielded 25 percent
more fruit cumulatively in
the first two years.
Mazzola used metage-
nome analysis, generating
and sifting through millions
of TNA sequences, to study
roots and attached soil and
found microbes in fumigat-
ed soil reverted back to their
original state after two sea-
sons while microbes in seed
meal treatment were distinct
and still suppressing disease
after the fourth season.
“We’re able to identify
all the bacteria and fungi
colonizing the apple tree
root system and improve the
root-soil ecosystem to man-
age the pathogens of this
disease,” he said.
Auvil has said Mazzo-
la has done a great job of
showing a wide array of or-
ganisms at work in tree fruit
soil, but that the seed meal
solution takes too much
meal from too far away to
be practical beyond test
plots.
“Growers apply 20 tons
per acre of compost in the
fall to orchards,” Mazzola
said, noting he applies mus-
tard seed meal at 3 tons per
acre and has successfully
reduced that by one-third.
Mustard seed meal is
mainly a biodiesel byprod-
uct produced in the Midwest
but mustard seed is grown
in Washington and can be
increased, he said.
“Growers will make this
work,” he said, adding meal
flakes have been turned
into pellets commercially in
California for easier appli-
cation.
Interaction between Ge-
neva rootstock and the seed
meal are likely to allow
further reductions in the
quantities required, he said.
And seed meal may not be
the only solution. Mazzola
continues to research other
potential solutions.
“The Geneva rootstock
was developed for precoci-
ty, dwarfing and fire blight
resistance, not replant dis-
ease,” he said. “That’s a
side benefit. It has a toler-
ance for replant disease. It
handles it.”
Mazzola and Yanmin
Zhu, an ARS geneticist in
Wenatchee, and Gennaro
Fazio, an ARS rootstock
breeder in Geneva, N.Y.,
who developed the Geneva
rootstock, are collaborating
to investigate differences
in gene expression with an
eye toward developing a
rootstock truly resistant to
replant disease.
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Mike O’Brien .............................Publisher
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Ranch projects put off by procrastination
By RYAN M. TAYLOR
For the Capital Press
Cowboy
Logic
T
Ryan Taylor
OWNER, N.T. — The
weather has warmed
up considerably in
our neighborhood, making
it feel like spring. That’s an
odd feeling for us in North
Takota, as the solstice turns
to spring, to have our actual
weather match the officially
designated season.
It makes the kids want
to play catch and ride their
bikes when they get off the
school bus. It makes me feel
like being outside, working
in our shop where the in-
side temperature is perfect-
ly synchronized with the
outdoor temperature, and
catching up on a few assort-
ed projects that I started a
while back.
‘A while back’
When I say, “a while
back,” it reminds me of
when my dad used to say,
“here the other day.” In lat-
er years, he would say that
and Mom would remind
him that “here the other
day” usually meant any-
where from 5 months to 15
years ago in actual calendar
time.
Time flies, I guess, and it
usually flies faster and far-
ther as we get older. It’s the
reason we look at our chil-
dren’s rate of growth and
maturity in disbelief, and
wonder how it could be that
our friends are becoming
grandparents and that we
somehow received notice of
a 25-year, or more, school
reunion.
One of the projects I’d
started “a while back” was
to put some electric lights in
a small pole building I had
built years ago with the help
of a couple passing neigh-
bors and relatives.
It’s used mostly for
storage, but I also have a
horse pen and a hitching
rail next to it so it’s become
my tack shed and the place
to keep our saddles out of
the weather. Sometimes,
we start out early with the
horses, or ride late in the
evening, so I figured a lit-
tle illumination would be
handy.
I had an electrician run
a line out and put an elec-
tric breaker panel in there
— five years ago? Here
the other day. I went to the
store and bought the things
I would need — switches,
outlets, little blue boxes,
lamp holders, wire and wire
staples and wire nuts —
four years ago? Just here the
other day.
Ranch electrician
Now, with this warm
weather I gathered up my
pliers and screwdrivers and
wire stripper and decided I
was going to “let there be
light” in our saddle shed.
I’m no master electrician,
but I am a ranch electrician.
TIY is the acronym for us
“do it yourself” types.
I can run wires out of a
panel and put in some out-
lets and lights and simple
switches. I can even do a
three-way switch if I go to
our shop that was wired by
a real electrician, look at
things and remind myself
what to do with that extra
red wire. My cardinal rule
— make double and triple
sure that the power is off on
the start of the wire before
I start messing with the end
of the wire.
I gathered up my plas-
tic bags of electrical pieces
and parts from the hardware
store that had been laying
in that building for “a while
now.” I picked up the plastic
bags and they disintegrated
completely, dropping my
new supplies on the ground.
Plastic timing
I don’t know what the
rate of deterioration is on
good petro-chemical plas-
tic. I’d always heard that
plastic would live on a lot
longer than we do. Maybe
the bags were sitting in the
sunlight. Perhaps they had
some biodegradable corn
starch components. But, in
any case, my period of pro-
crastination outlasted the
plastic.
The lights are now on
and I have a new goal for my
long list of other projects —
make sure to complete them
faster than their plastic bags
of supplies break down in
the environment. It’s not a
high bar. We can do this.
Calendar
APRIL
OREGON
April 9 — Oregon Mint Com-
mission budget hearing, 10 a.m.,
Hood River Hotel, 102 Oak St.,
Hood River, 503-364-2944
April 18 — Oregon Women
for Agriculture Auction and Din-
ner, Linn County Fair and Expo
Center, Albany, 503-243-FARM
(3276), http://owaonline.org/
April 25-26 — AgFest, 8:30
a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5
p.m. Sunday, Oregon State Fair-
grounds, Salem, $9 for adults,
under 12 are free, http://www.
oragfest.com
April 28 — Oregon Blueber-
ry Commission budget hearing,
noon, Chemeketa Events at
Winema, Room 210, 4001 Wine-
ma Place, NE, Salem, 503-364-
2944
CALIFORNIA
April 18-21 — California
State FFA Conference, Selland
Arena, Fresno, www.calaged.
org/stateconvention
IDAHO
April 8-11 — State FFA
Leadership Conference, College
of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls,
www.idffafoundation.org/
April 24 — Forester map and
compass workshop, 9 a.m.-4
p.m., University of IdahoExten-
sion office, 1808 N. Third St.,
Coeur d’Alene, $10 fee, 208-
446-1683,
http://www.uidaho.
edu/extension/forestry/content/
calendarofevents
WASHINGTON
April 4 — Washington State
Sheep Producers Lambing and
Management School, Sprague,
$50 (member), $60 (non-mem-
ber), 509-257-2230, dvm@feus-
telfarms.com
April 6-11 — Washington
State Sheep Producers Shearing
School, Moses Lake
April 16-19 — Washing-
ton State Spring Fair, Puyal-
lup, 2-10 p.m. Thursday, 10
a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Sat-
urday and 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sun-
day,
http://www.thefair.com/
spring-fair/
MAY
WASHINGTON
May 14-16 — Washington FFA
Convention, Washington State Uni-
versity, Pullman, www.washingtonf-
fa.org/convention
CALIFORNIA
May 1-2 — Forest Landowners of
California annual meeting, Holiday Inn,
Auburn, www.forestlandowners.org/
JUNE
CALIFORNIA
June 15-26 — Postharvest Tech-
nology Short Course, University of Cal-
ifornia-Davis, http://postharvest.ucdavis.
edu/Education/PTShortCourse/
WASHINGTON
June 20-21 — Glenwood Ketchum
Kalf Rodeo, 1 p.m. each day, 509-364-
3371, http://business.gorge.net/glen-
woodrodeo/
JULY
IDAHO
July 11 — 94th annual Idaho Ram
Sale, Twin Falls County Fairgrounds,
Filer, 208-334-2271 or iwga@earth-
link.net
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Index
California ................................ 8
Dairy .................................... 14
Idaho ...................................... 9
Livestock ............................. 14
Markets ............................... 15
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon .................................. 9
Washington ..........................11
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