UNRAVELING THE MICROBIAL MECHANISMS THAT MEDIATE DISEASE RESURGENCE IN PLANTS FOLLOWING FUNGICIDE APPLICATION

We hypothesize that certain broad-spectrum fungicides disrupt the resident microbial community on plants and decrease the ability of the community to suppress pathogen activity once the pathogen-suppressing activity of the fungicide has dissipated. We will test this hypothesis through pursuit of the following goals:Identify fungicides that result in disease resurgence in turfgrass.Identify key rhizosphere and foliar microbial community parameters, metabolites, and processes that are impacted by fungicides that result in disease resurgence.Determine whether the turfgrass-dollar spot pathosystem can serve as an appropriate model to investigate disease resurgence in a major cereal crop.