Bioindicators for crop resilience against biotic stress

In regard to bioindicators for crop resilience against biotic stress, the INVITE project has investigated the Septora tritici bloth (STB).

STB is the most important disease for wheat production in Western Europe. Prior to the appearance of visual STB symptoms in the crop, there is a latent period (for up to 30 days) during which STB advances unchecked through the host plant. Previous work has concluded that a longer latent phase is actually a desirable trait to define quantitative/durable resistance of wheat against STB. This is because a longer latent period prevents the re-emergence of the disease onto the leaf surface, which reduces the epidemic potential of STB through the crop canopy. 

Work conducted in the context of INVITE has investigated the ability of varieties to extend the latent period, which could be used as a potential bioindicator to support reducing the potential of STB to spread through a crop and indeed across whole landscapes.

The impact of using molecular diagnostics to explore this phenomenon has been investigated and results from three field evaluations across two years analysed. The output of the work conducted, in fact, highlights the potential use of this bioindicator as a mechanism to identify varietal material at the early stages of the latent period that has low levels of STB resistance.

In conclusion, it could therefore be considered that this may be applied as an innovative tool and method to assess an important sustainability criteria and ultimately improve the speed and efficiency of DUS and performance testing to discard material that is too reliant on the use of chemical crop protectants to preserve yield.

For more information about these activities, please contact Ewen Mullins: ewen.mullins@teagasc.ie

A full report about these research activities are available on the website of the European Commission, here.