Location: Crop Production and Protection
Project Number: 0500-00102-001-014-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 19, 2020
End Date: Jun 18, 2025
Objective:
For corn, the first objective is to establish the association between inoculum intensity, disease development and weather in small plot trials for gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight of corn. The second objective is to establish the association between initial inoculum, disease development and weather in commercial corn fields for gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight. For cotton, the objective is to establish the association between initial inoculum, disease development and weather in sentinel plots to build and validate pathogen models.
Approach:
For the work related to corn, the lab at Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center will conduct all experiments as outlined under Objectives 1 (to establish the association between inoculum intensity, disease development and weather in small plot trials) and 2 (to establish the association between initial inoculum, disease development and weather in commercial corn fields) of the project. The small plot experiments in Obj. 1 well be established at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, MS. A second set of trials will be conducted at the Northeast Mississippi Research and Extension Center near Verona, MS with the cooperation of staff who will be a cooperator in Mississippi. In addition, Cooperator's PI will work to select the 25 fields for the experiment described under Obj 2. Cooperator's PI will work carefully to collect, ship and/or process corn residue and aerosol samples, quantify gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight intensity, and monitor growing conditions following the protocols detailed in the proposal. Cooperator's PI will also work closely with PIs in the other participating states to organize, process, mine, and analyze weather, disease, and spore density data to quantity associations among measured responses, and eventually (likely in year 2), test and validate risk assessment models chosen by the research group to compare across a much larger geographic area. For the work related to cotton, the Allen lab will conduct an experiment as outlined under the overall objective to establish a SENTINEL PLOT with active and passive sampling of air borne spores to build and validate pathogen models of the project. The field experiment in this objective will be established at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, MS. The Cooperator will supervise and work along with the Research Associates and student workers assigned to the project to collect, ship, and/or process plant tissue and aerosol samples, quantify target spot and other pathogens that infest the sites, and monitor cotton growth and weather conditions following the protocols detailed in the proposal. Research associates and student workers will also work with PIs in the other cotton participating states to organize, process, mine, and analyze weather, disease, and spore density data to quantity associations among measured responses, and eventually test and validate various risk assessment models.
