Components of sustainable Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Several major genes for resistance have been deployed but all can be overcome by emergence of matching virulence (probably loss of the avirulence gene product), and frequency of such virulence generally correlates with the area of cultivars deployed with the matching resistance. Fungicides are similarly rendered ineffective through adaptation of the pathogen population.

R. commune populations are thought to undergo recombination from population genetic studies but the sexual stage has not been recorded. Nevertheless, winter varieties retain some effective field resistance. However, R. commune also infects and sporulates on resistant cultivars asymptomatically; infection on susceptible cultivars do not always become symptomatic; and it survives and sporulates saprophytically on crop debris. Little is known about the pathogen in these trophic states.

Figure 1: Trophic space- the dynamic relationship between microbes and their hosts.

Key review

Newton, A.C., Fitt, B.D.L., Atkins, S.D., Walters, D.R., Daniell, T. 2010. Pathogenesis, mutualism and parasitism in the trophic space of microbe-plant interactions. Trends in Microbiology 18, 365-373.

We carry out research on in several areas that when deployed together are more effective, i.e. components of sustainable Integrated Pest (/pathogen) Management (IPM).

These are:

• developing crop protectants, particularly resistance elicitors
• deployment or resistance to enhance its efficacy (heterogeneity and variety mixtures or blends)
• identifying and understanding disease tolerance both genetically and in its crop ecological context
• determining the consequences of these components on the pathogen populations.

You can find further resources below.

• Cereal Pathogen Resistance Allele Database
• PDF file: Variety Mixtures in Theory and Practice (701 KB)
  Some case studies compiled by the Variety and Species Mixtures working group (WG2) of COST Action 817 (Agriculture and biotechnology) entitled: ‘Population studies of airborne pathogens on cereals as means as of improving strategies for disease control.