Location: Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit
Project Number: 2072-22000-045-038-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2023
End Date: Sep 14, 2027
Objective:
Characterize the population structure and fungicide sensitivities among fruit rot pathogens.
Approach:
We will generate a national collection of blueberry fruit rot pathogens, focused on Colletotrichum spp. and Botrytis spp., the major genera of blueberry fruit rot pathogens. Cooperators across several states will collect buds, flowers, and fruit and record metadata for each tissue and collection. ARS will collect tissues from Oregon blueberry fields. The pathogens will be isolated and sent to a laboratory at Michigan State University for identification to the species level and for fungicide sensitivity assays and identification of genetic mutations relevant to resistance to various classes of fungicides.
ARS will lead a study of the microbiome (bacteria and fungi) of developing blueberries from flowers to ripe fruit. We are interested in correlations between low populations of pathogens and high populations of potentially disease-suppressive organisms, which could lead to new methods to reduce the incidence of fruit rot.
