Description
The project will focus on the potato and two of its major diseases, late blight and soft rot which both cause massive crop and economic losses if not managed properly. While crop production is generally expected to benefit from climate change in Northern Europe, problems with diseases are expected to increase.The project aims to provide increased knowledge on all three elements in the disease triangle: pathogen, plant and environment. Hence, we can exploit potato resistance to reduce fungicide input in late blight control, as well as to limit the losses caused by pectinolytic bacteria.The strategic goal is to improve potato breeders and producers understanding for the need of breeding and growing potatoes resistant to diseases and to support their efforts with know-how generated within the project.
Summary of project results
Potato is the fourth most important food crop in the world. In Norway, 321 100 tons of potatoes were produced in 2010, while Polish production was estimated at 8 700 000 tons. Climate change affects the agriculture severely, and one important aspect of it is the impact on plant diseases and pathogen populations. The project focused on potato pathogens: Phytophthora infestans causing potato late blight and Pectobacterium spp. and Dickeya spp. causing blackleg and soft rot of the potato tubers. Both diseases bring crop and yield losses and the chemical protection against late blight is intensive, expensive and harmful for the natural environment. Within the project we characterized samples of current populations of late blight and pectinolytic bacteria in both countries, evaluated resistance of various potato genotypes to selected isolates of pathogen, estimated the influence of the weather on both host resistance and virulence expression, identified inoculum sources and disease pressure in relation to weather and improved a weather-based forecasting model for potato late blight incorporating the effect of resistance. Population surveys in Norway and Poland indicated the main bacterial species causing soft rot in both countries. A representative panel of 83 isolates collected from Poland and Norway was selected and analyzed phylogenetically and phenotypically. The critical number of bacteria causing infection in potato tubers was evaluated. Sequence analysis of three housekeeping genes resolved the different Pectobacterium species in addition to serving as phylogenetic markers, and hence can serve as potential barcodes for pectinolytic bacteria. Susceptibility to two D. solani strains (from Poland and Norway) of commonly grown potato cultivars in Poland (16) and Norway (6) was evaluated. Regarding late blight 463 isolates of the pathogen were collected in in Poland and Norway and characterized for a number of phenotypic and genetic. The diversity of Avr-vnt1 and AvrSmira1 effectors was investigated in 96 representative P. infestans isolates collected in Norway, Poland and in international reference isolates, which allowed predictions of durability of the resistance provided by two resistance gene. On the basis of field resistance tests, potato genes Rpi-phu1, Rpi-rzc1, Rpi-mch1, R5, R8 and R9 were indicated as providing most efficient resistance to late blight.
Summary of bilateral results
Within the POTPAT project the plans and results of research were shared and discussed by all participants during four project meetings. Materials from the meetings including the presentations were then distributed by e-mail among the participants. Skype calls and e-mails in between the meetings helped to exchange data, ideas and knowledge. The cooperation within the project improved the research quality by widening of the geographic span of the surveys on populations of important potato pathogens, comparisons of Polish and Norwegian populations and relating the obtained data to more diverse climatic conditions. The consortium’s combined capacities enabled application of more methods and improved the quality of conducted analyses. While the research by the Project Promoter (IHAR-PIB) was focused mostly on the potato host plant but also on pathogens, P1 NIBIO studied all three components of the system (host, pathogen and the environment) and P2 UG-GUMed concentrated on the pathogen itself and the influence of climate change on it. Together, these three institutions formed a consortium capable to study the disease triangle (host-pathogen-environment) effectively and from different perspectives. Training and study visits of research staff from Poland took place in Norway in order to make the technology and knowledge transfer easier. Materials were exchanged between the project partners, e.g. set of potato genotypes and cultures of bacteria and P. infestans. Two joint publications were prepared and submitted to international peer-reviewed journals and a collaborative grant proposal was written.