New research involving a scientist at the University of York in the United Kingdom reveals a potential natural defence against invasive pathogens which damage food crops across the world.
Ville Friman, of the department of biology at York, worked with colleagues in China and the Netherlands in the search for new ways to suppress the pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum which causes bacterial wilt of tomato and potato. Global damage estimates of bacterial wilt of potato currently exceed $950 million per year.
Traditionally, farmers have employed integrated management — potentially involving the use of chemicals — to protect crops against pathogen invasion and increase yields. But some chemicals are banned within the EU.
The researchers studied if the soil microbial community that interacts with the plant could be harnessed to act as an ecological defence against pathogen invasion. They specifically concentrated on bacterial resource competition networks and studied pathogen invasion success in simplified laboratory experiments and tomato plant roots.
More information is available here: http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2015/research/tomatoes-disease-biology/
