WESLACO — The South Texas Onion Committee, a federal marketing order in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas that regulates and promotes the area’s onion production, recently funded several research projects to be carried out by the Texas A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Weslaco.
The committee raises funds for promotion and research by assessing growers a fee of a few cents on each bag of onions produced.
Dr. Marvin Miller, a plant pathologist and onion research project leader at the Texas A&M center, said commercial onion growers, as well as researchers, are planting their 2000 crop, which will be harvested beginning in late February or early March.
Onions, including the sweet 1015 variety, are produced on about 9,000 acres in South Texas, creating an annual economic impact of about $50 million for the area and employing about 1,200 people.
“Growers here in the Valley,” Miller said, “did an outstanding job of producing a good crop of onions in 1999, but prices were too low to make much of a profit. Current onion market prices are much improved, but the market can and does fluctuate.”
Miller will conduct one of the four onion research projects funded by the committee. Others will be carried out by Drs. Stormy Sparks, T. X. Liu, and Lynn Brandenberger.
Miller will be looking into identifying the different fungi that play a role in seedling diseases that yearly cost growers heavily early in the game.
“Stand establishment is a major problem in onion production,” Miller said. “Onion seedling loss varies from field to field, but losses of 20 to 50 percent are not uncommon. Production costs are the same in fields with major stand losses as they are in fields with little or no stand losses. But for maximum production, onions need to have a uniform stand.”
Since onion seedlings are slow-growing, they are vulnerable to many diseases. Many factors play a role, Miller said, such as high salt levels, high temperatures, and dry or wet soil conditions that all make seedlings more susceptible to fungi that kill them off.
Miller and his technicians will conduct surveys of young onion fields. Declining seedlings will be taken to their lab to sample leaves and roots. Fungi that grow out will be identified.
In related greenhouse studies, soil will be inoculated with fungi, and onion seeds will be treated with experimental fungicides to screen them for efficacy. Fungicides that exhibit good results will be tested more extensively in field studies.
The two studies to be carried out by Liu and Sparks will investigate insect problems in onions. The first will evaluate the efficacy of pyrethroids and new insecticides on two common onion pests, Western flower thrips and onion thrips.
The second study will investigate the developmental stages of thrips, as well as their changing populations throughout the season in treated and untreated fields.
Brandenberger will be evaluating various weed control treatments in onions.
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