DISEASE MANAGEMENT IN SWEETPOTATO IN LOUISIANA

To determine the role of wound healing in development of Rhizopus soft rot on stored sweetpotato storage roots.To develop a program for effective, economical management of Rhizopus soft rot of sweetpotato that does not rely on prophylactic application of synthetic fungicides.To incorporate multiple disease resistance into new sweetpotato breeding lines with the ultimate goal of generating multiple-disease and pest-resistant cultivars for the Louisiana, U.S., and world sweetpotato industries, and to identify methods for screening for resistance and sources of resistance for the invasive Guava root-knot nematode and the re-emerged black rot disease.To determine the critical target viruses for management in sweetpotato production in Louisiana, to determine their distribution in Louisiana, and develop protocols for their detection in different phases of clean plant production.