Phytobiomes in Crop Health and Disease Management

The major goals of this project are to increase understanding of the impact of cover crops and crop rotation on the soil and root microbiome and plant and soil health, and to understand the impacts of seed treatments on seedborne and soilborne pathogen communities and their interaction with crop plants. This information is needed to further understanding of plant problems and could lead to environmentally friendly and sustainable management options of the plant problems. Specifically, our objectives are to:Evaluate the impact of cover crops and crop rotation on the soil and root microbiome and plant and soil healthExamine the impacts of seed treatments on seedborne and soilborne pathogen communities and their interactions with crop plantsAssess the effects of insect management practices on infection of corn plants by mycotoxigenic fungiInvestigate the infection process, yield loss, and management of sudden death syndrome and stem cankerExamine the interactions of crop with oomycetes
and fungi, and the effect of the environmentCharacterize the role of the root microbiome in enhancing plant resource use efficiencyInvestigate the efficacy of certain soil microbes for biological seed treatmentsDevelop new methods for detection of pathogens of phytosanitary concern, focusing on the use of PCR or loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technologies.