Editorial: Legume root diseases

Authors: PILET-NAYEL, MARIE-LAURE - Inrae; Coyne, Clarice - Clare; LE MAY, CHRISTOPHE - Inrae; BANNIZA, SABINE - University Of Saskatchewan

Submitted to: Frontiers in Plant Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/12/2024
Publication Date: 3/20/2024
Citation: Pilet-Nayel, M., Coyne, C.J., Le May, C., Banniza, S. 2024. Editorial: Legume root diseases. Frontiers in Plant Science. 15:1393326. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1393326.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1393326

Interpretive Summary: Legume crop development is a major challenge worldwide for sustainable agriculture and food security. In particular, legume root diseases are economically important, affecting large areas of crop production in many countries worldwide. Root rots, caused by fungal pathogens and water molds, are the most destructive soil-borne diseases of pea, chickpea, lentil, soybean, bean, faba bean, lupin and alfalfa. A number of control strategies have been developed including resistance breeding, cultural practices and chemical control. However, root diseases remain difficult to manage, especially due to difficultly working underground. Thus, most control methods have been hard to achieve or resulted in incomplete protection. Collaborative and multidisciplinary research is needed to develop effective integrated control strategies against these diseases. International Workshop meetings were initiated in 2002 on legume root diseases with the first held in Rennes, France. As the community interest in this topic has grown, these workshops have performed an important role in the international promotion and discussion of results on the research and scientific achievements in this field. They have also been important in supporting the scientific community and helping breeders and stakeholders with funding applications and partnerships. The eighth International Legume Root Diseases (ILRD8) workshop was held online on August 23-26, 2022 (https://workshop.inrae.fr/ilrd8/) and gathered nearly 100 scientists from different continents of the world. The workshop provided the opportunity to open this Frontiers Special Issue research topic bringing together a collection of the latest quality articles and reporting on recent advances in research on legume root diseases. Manuscripts of this collection address the various areas of legume root diseases research and suggestions for moving forward.

Technical Abstract: Legume crop development is a major challenge worldwide for sustainable agriculture and food security. In particular, legume root diseases are economically important, affecting large areas of crop production in many countries worldwide. Root rots, caused by Aphanomyces euteiches, Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium species, and wilts, caused by several formae speciales of Fusarium oxysporum, are some of the most destructive soil-borne diseases of cultivated legumes including pea, chickpea, lentil, soybean, bean, faba bean, lupin, and alfalfa. A number of control strategies have been developed including resistance breeding, cultural practices and chemical control. However, root diseases remain difficult to manage, especially due to difficult accessibility to the soil horizon and most control methods have been hard to achieve or resulted in incomplete protection. Collaborative and multidisciplinary research is needed to develop effective integrated control strategies against these diseases. International Workshop meetings on legume root diseases were initiated in 2002 held in Rennes, France. As the community interest in this topic has grown, the meetings have performed an important role in the international promotion and discussion of results on the research and scientific achievements in this field. They have also been important in supporting the scientific community and helping breeders and stakeholders with funding applications and partnerships. The eighth International Legume Root Diseases (ILRD8) workshop was held online on August 23-26, 2022 (https://workshop.inrae.fr/ilrd8/) and gathered nearly 100 scientists from different continents of the world. The workshop was the opportunity to open this Frontiers Special Issue research topic bringing together a collection of the latest quality articles and reporting on recent advances in research on legume root diseases. Manuscripts of this collection address the various areas of legume root diseases research including disease survey, pathogen identification and diversity, disease resistance and breeding, plant-pathogen-microbe interactions and integrated disease management.