CURRENT STATUS OF CHEMICAL AND NON CHEMICAL SOIL DISINFESTATIONS SOLUTIONS IN FRANCE

Because of present and future European and national regulations on pesticides, French growers are using less and less chemical soil fumigants. They started between 1998 and 2007 with a linear decrease on Methyl Bromide (MeBr) consumption combined with standardized Virtually Impermeable films NF T 54 195. Cases studies of European Alterbromide Project on main crops and countries concluded that 70% around of total vegetable surfaces are disinfested with chemical fumigants mainly mixture of 1,3-dichloropropene and chloropicrine, metam sodium and at least dazomet i.e. major European and French vegetable and ornamental crops are depending of fumigants.
A new quarantine pest (Meloidogyne chitwoodi) was recently detected in North of France on potatoes and soil disinfestations will be imperative in this case.
Moreover, several successful researches focus on lower rates of active ingredients per hectare with methyl isothiocyanate generators i.e metham sodium and dazomet. Theses new ways are now adopted by french farmers: dazomet at 500 or 250 kg/ha and VIFs, metham sodium and rototiller plus packing soil at only 600 L/ha with a homogenous repartition over the soil layer at the time of application.
Metham sodium through drip irrigation system on strawberry in the Perigord area (South West of France) is the only available alternative to the ban of MeBr.
Soil solarization alone or combined with low rates of chemicals (8% of total vegetables crops in Europe following Alterbromide conclusions) is a very promising tool to reduce soil fumigants consumption keeping biological specially on big vein on lettuces in South West of France (2008). Around 250 ha are solarized in South East and West of France.
New soil fumigants such as dimethyl disulfide or iodomethane with promising results are not yet registered.