Kōrero: Agricultural and horticultural research

AgResearch and Ballance Agri-Nutrients have jointly developed a product called Bioshield to control grass grubs. It uses naturally occurring soil bacteria (Serratia entomophila), which are concentrated in granules and drilled into a pasture. The bacteria are released into the soil, causing grass grubs to stop feeding and later die of what is called amber disease. The right side of this paddock had been treated with Bioshield six weeks previously. Of the grass grubs present, 23% had amber disease, whereas only 6% on the left side had the disease. The difference was enough for the untreated pasture to develop large areas of dead grass.