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Protective coats for plants
Summary
Diseases are responsible for global crop losses of up to 15% annually. In 1990, such losses were estimated to cost farmers and growers US$76 billion. Such losses occur despite the use of fungicides and resistant varieties, highlighting the need for novel, additional approaches for disease control. One such approach is being examined at SAC and involves the use of plant-derived polymers to protect plants against disease.
Key Challenges
Modern fungicides have a single site of action and, in most new crop cultivars, disease resistance is controlled by one or a few genes. The pathogens causing disease are genetically adaptable, and they can become insensitive to fungicides and overcome new resistant crop varieties rapidly. One way of tackling this is to develop control measures acting on several fronts. Plant polymers being studied by SAC disrupt the pathogen on the leaf, and they can also induce resistance in the plant.
Key Benefits
Globally, diseases are responsible for losses in wheat production of US$14 billion annually, while in the UK losses in cereal production as a result of plant disease are in the region of £350 million every year. Such losses occur despite UK farmers and growers spending £194 million on fungicides to protect crops. Clearly, the development of new approaches to crop disease control, which are more difficult for pathogens to overcome, has the potential to reduce such losses substantially. If used wisely, such new approaches to disease control should help to increase the longevity of existing control methods and to reduce costs to farmers and growers.
“SAC researchers aim to protect crops through a combination of protective coats and vaccination.”
New European legislation regulating pesticides use has reduced the number of fungicides that can be used to protect crops against disease. Together with the growing concern for the environment, this has led to increased research into integrated, sustainable approaches to disease control. The development of a plant-derived disease control agent based on a renewable resource, should provide a more sustainable, environmentally-benign addition to the global crop protection armoury. The fact that the polymers are extracted from cereal bran also represents an alternative use for cereals worldwide.
Initial work on these polymers in SAC was supported by Defra, and more recently by the Grain Research Development Corporation of Australia, who have provided a grant of £204k to examine the potential of using these polymers in crop disease control. This work is being undertaken in collaboration with the South Australia Research and Development Institute (SARDI) in Adelaide, who are running a sister project under Australian growing conditions.
Our Partners
SAC’s research was funded by Defra, and currently by GRDC (Australia), and involves collaboration with SARDI in Adelaide.