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Objective 1: Optimize delivery and evaluate performance of chemical, cultural, biological, and genetic alternatives to methyl bromide for crops/pathogen combinations currently benefiting from the use of methyl bromide. a. Evaluate alternative fumigants. b. Identify genes associated with pathogenicity of Verticillium dahliae based on a Verticillium comparative genomics study to support the development of alternative control procedures. c. Identify emerging diseases and their etiology and evaluate resistant germplasm for diseases of strawberry, lettuce, and vegetables. d. Evaluate the influence of crop rotation on pathogen populations and beneficial microbial community dynamics in the soil and severity of Verticillium wilt and other diseases. Develop tools to evaluate and understand the role of myxobacteria in agricultural and natural ecosystems in an effort to elucidate their potential for pathogen control. Objective 2: Develop molecular diagnostic tools for the identification of emerging diseases of vegetables and strawberries, and use these tools in the development of management strategies as alternatives to methyl bromide.
APPROACH: Develop integrated management approaches including crop rotation, biological control, selection of disease resistant varities, organic production, other biological practices, and combinations of biological practices with reduced concentrations of chemical fumigants to control diseases. Identifying useful commercial biological agents as well as new agents from the strawberry rhizosphere that will help to improve plant growth and disease management. Molecular tools will be developed for evaluation of the fficacy of pathogen management and modeling population dynamics of beneficial microbes. Replaces 5305-22000-009-00D(11/07).