How to develop smarter host mixtures to control plant disease?

نویسندگان

  • Alexey Mikaberidze
  • Bruce McDonald
  • Sebastian Bonhoeffer
چکیده

A looming challenge for agriculture is sustainable intensification of food production to feed the growing human population. Current chemical and genetic technologies used to manage plant diseases are highly vulnerable to pathogen evolution and are not sustainable. Pathogen evolution is facilitated by the genetic uniformity underlying modern agroecosystems, suggesting that one path to sustainable disease control lies through increasing genetic diversity at the field scale by using genetically diverse host mixtures. We investigate how host mixtures can improve disease control using a population dynamics model. We find that when a population of crop plants is exposed to host-specialized pathogen species or strains, the overall disease severity is smaller in the mixture of two host varieties than in each of the corresponding pure stands. The disease severity can be minimized over a range of mixing ratios. These findings may help in designing host mixtures that efficiently control diseases of crops. We then generalize the model to describe host mixtures with many components. We find that when pathogens exhibit host specialization, the overall disease severity decreases with the number of components in the mixture. Using these model outcomes, we propose ways to optimize the use of host mixtures to decrease disease in agroecosystems.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Papaya Dieback in Malaysia: A StepTowards A New Insight of Disease Resistance

A recently published article describing the draft genome of Erwiniamallotivora BT-Mardi (1), the causal pathogen of papaya dieback infection in Peninsular Malaysia, hassignificant potential to overcome and reduce the effect of this vulnerable crop (2). The authors found that the draft genome sequenceis approximately 4824 kbp and the G+C content of the genomewas 52-54%, which is very similarto t...

متن کامل

Disease Control Priorities Third Edition Is Published: A Theory of Change Is Needed for Translating Evidence to Health Policy

How can evidence from economic evaluations of the type the Disease Control Priorities project have synthesized be translated to better priority setting? This evidence provides insights into how investing in health, particularly though priority interventions and expanded access to health insurance and prepaid care, can not only save lives but also help alleviate poverty and provide financial ris...

متن کامل

Use of multiline cultivars and cultivar mixtures for disease management.

The usefulness of mixtures (multiline cultivars and cultivar mixtures) for disease management has been well demonstrated for rusts and powdery mildews of small grain crops. Such mixtures are more useful under some epidemiological conditions than under others, and experimental methodology, especially problems of scale, may be crucial in evaluating the potential efficacy of mixtures on disease. T...

متن کامل

Some aspects of biology and host range of Biscogniauxia mediterranea, one of the causal agent of oak charcoal disease

Field surveys in Zagros forests located in western Iran were done to study some aspects of biology and host range of Biscogniauxia mediterranea during 2014-2016. The ability of its conidia and ascospores to cause the disease was evaluated under greenhouse condition. Ascospore viability and development of anamorph and teleomorph were surveyed under different conditions. The pathogen host range w...

متن کامل

Enhancement of bacterial wilt resistance and rhizosphere health in tomato using bionanocomposites

Biological control agents are useful components in the enhancement of plant disease resistance and improvement of soil properties. Effect of biological control agents (BCAs) as a disease control method in plants is hampered by their vulnerability to environmental and edaphic conditions. This study entailed the use of chitosan-silica nanocomposites for delivery of BCAs. Effect of BCAs-nanocompos...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2014