>Subject: Natural Herbicide or Another Round Up?
Dave I went to the ARS site and downloaded the .pdf article. (Loved the
picture of them spraying it in full zoot suits and HEPA/acid gas
respirators. Inspires confidence in it's safety.)
The concept looks interesting if it fully investigated for unintended
effects. Suppose to harm only dicots and degrade in 24 hours. But as we
have learned, even "natural" materials transplanted around the ecosystem
can cause major problems. Just look at BT corn expressing the activated
form of the BT precusor used in organic sprays. The excerpt below gives
some of the proposed uses. Mike Miller
From http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/feb00/weeds0200.pdf
Potential Uses of Nep1
Because it isn’t harmful to monocot crops—such as corn,
wheat, barley, rye, or turfgrass—Nep1 may prove to be a natural
alternative to some conventional synthetic herbicides. It could
be used to control or kill off cover crops, for example, hairy
vetch, which is very sensitive to the
protein.
“If you could use this in an organic
farming situation, I think that would be
great because organic farmers have lim-ited
weed control choices right now,”
says Bailey.
According to Mark Lipson, policy
program director for the Organic Farm-ing
Research Foundation (OFRF), “Bio-pesticides
in general are very important
transitional tools to organic systems. But
they are not, and should not be, essential
in the long run.”
An organic farmer, he explains, might
apply a biopesticide as a last resort or to
complement other organic weed con-trols,
such as using cover crops, mulches,
burning, or cultivation.
The ARS researchers envision using
Nep1 to kill or weaken dicot (broadleaf)
weeds like yellow starthistle, northern
joint vetch, and spotted knapweed. In
rangeland or pasture areas, for example,
this could give grasses and other forages
a chance to reclaim lost ground or
resources.
“If you could knock the weed back
and give it a 1- or 2-week delay,” says
Bailey, “then competing plants could
shade it out.” Nep1 could also be sprayed
on weeds between rows of monocots like corn and have the
same effect, he adds.
Another potential use is combining Nep1 with the herbicides
RoundUp (glyphosate) and 2,4-D, or 2,4-dichlorophenoxy
acetic acid.
Used as an additive, Nep1 appears to give these herbicides
a boost that damages weeds faster than in instances when the
chemicals are used alone. This may also reduce the amount of
chemical needed, a possibility the scientists are now exploring
in lab and greenhouse experiments.
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