The kick-off meeting for the Horizon Europe IPMorama project took place in Dublin, Ireland, on Oct. 3-4, 2024, hosted by Teagasc | Agriculture and Food Development. This four-year project, valued at €5 million, unites 17 partners from 10 European countries, aiming to enhance variety-centric Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for critical diseases affecting wheat (rust pathogens), potatoes (blight), and grain legumes like soybean (Diaporthe/Phomopsis complex fungi), pea (broomrape), and white lupin (anthracnose). According to a press release, GEVES will contribute its expertise in genetic resistance assessment and epidemiological monitoring. More information can be found on the project’s website and across social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
GEVES will be mainly involved in 4 tasks on wheat and potato:
- by participating in the monitoring of the deployment of resistance in European wheat and potato varieties, via the updating of the European VCU database (DiverCILand), created by INRAE for soft wheat, and the development of similar databases for durum wheat and potatoes.
- by managing the sampling of isolates from sentinel varieties in the European VCU and breeders’ networks, in order to strengthen epidemiological surveillance for yellow, leaf and stem rusts in wheat and for late blight in potatoes.
- by participating in the analysis of the stability of resistance over time and space
- by contributing to integrated pest management validation trials focusing on varieties, by testing wheat varietal mixtures, to ensure the reduction of the epidemiological development of yellow rust and the sustainability of the main sources of resistance.
Read here for more information about the project
