Location: Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit
Project Number: 2072-22000-041-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: May 8, 2017
End Date: May 7, 2022
Objective:
Objective 1: Describe the pathogen biology and disease epidemiology of exotic and emerging plant pathogens affecting horticultural crops.
Sub-objective 1A: Comparative genomics of Phytophthora pathogens.
Sub-objective 1B: Population genomics and evolution of Phytophthora pathogens.
Sub-objective 1C: Characterize the fungal, oomycete and bacterial microbiome associated with horticultural crops.
Sub-objective 1D: Disease surveys of small fruits in the Pacific Northwest.
Objective 2: Develop improved integrated disease management of pathogens of horticultural crops.
Sub-objective 2A: Integrate disease risk forecasters with models for air turbulence to predict pathogen dispersal and spatially explicit disease risk.
Sub-objective 2B: Develop methods to monitor presence of fungicide resistance in pathogen inoculum.
Sub-objective 2C: Optimize fungicide selection and application timing to manage powdery mildew on grape berries.
Sub-objective 2D: Identify inoculum sources of Botrytis cinerea in caneberry fields and evaluate methods to reduce overwintering populations.
Sub-objective 2E: Develop and evaluate alternative control measures for management of diseases that reduce fruit yield or quality.
Approach:
The long-term goal of this project is to develop the knowledge and tools needed to respond to plant disease epidemics using approaches that are economically and environmentally sustainable, with emphasis on increasing our ability to respond to exotic, emerging, and re-emerging pathogens. This will be accomplished through trans-disciplinary approaches that increase our knowledge of pathogen genetics, biology, and disease epidemiology and incorporates this information into decision support aids for horticultural crops.
The biology of exotic, emerging, and re-emerging plant pathogens is either poorly understood or inadequate to enable economic and environmentally sustainable management. We will develop and test methods for monitoring pathogen dispersion and describe the genomes, evolutionary history, population structure, genetics, epidemiology, and ecology of these pathogens. This knowledge will then be used in Objective 2 to develop decision support tools for producers of horticultural crops.
Once there is a more detailed understanding of pathogen ecology, this knowledge will be translated into disease management strategies that are continually optimized and/or improved to address changing climate, market and regulatory pressures. We will develop and improve disease management strategies for select pathogens affecting horticultural crops. The development and improvement of integrated disease management strategies for endemic pathogens will also improve our ability to respond to changing climatic conditions while enhancing the economic and sustainable production of horticultural crops.
