Egyptian broomrape eradication effort in California: a progress report on the joint effort of regulators, university, tomato growers and processors

Egyptian broomrape, Orobanche aegyptiaca, was first detected in a commercial processing tomato field near Davis, CA, USA, in the summer of 2014. This was the first report of this species in the United States, from which we presume was an introduction.
The California processing tomato industry rallied to gather funds to match a California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Emergency Fund to take a chemical approach to eradicate this parasitic weed.
While the field currently remains under CDFA regulatory hold, several management steps were taken to control the pest including: 1) glyphosate application to kill both the parasitic weed and host crop without a tomato fruit harvest, 2) hand removal of shoots as a consideration, 3) flaming with propane and 4) fumigation along with tarp cover.
A succession of three host crops will be planted to monitor the success of the eradication effort, by surveying the field to check for any escape broomrape plants attached to the host crop.
At the time of this report, the commercial field has passed the first crop inspection without incidence of the pest.

XIV International Symposium on Processing Tomato

G. Miyao

processing tomato, Orobanche aegyptiaca, Phelipanche aegyptiaca, fumigation, flaming, parasitic weed, quarantine, regulatory hold, USDA federal noxious weed

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1159.21