Abstract
National surveys show fungicide use on wheat continues to increase despite fluctuations in disease pressure, reaching a 30 year high in 2012 (Defra). Septoria tritici is the most significant foliar disease in UK wheat causing between £43M to £53M in yield losses annually; Yellow and brown rust are more sporadic but have caused significant losses during high disease years. In all cases control is by fungicide application costing £82M annually (GFK Kynetec 2013). Effective disease management relies on either prophylactic pesticide use or significant manual intervention and time consuming assessment of crop disease indicators by farmers and agronomists. Furthermore indications are that current levels of pesticide use could lead to increased risk of pesticide resistance, if this should occur it is estimated that wheat yields could reduce by up to 20%. To address this we have developed a prototype integrated and automated spore detection system, designed for unattended field application, to monitor and identify the presence of Septoria, brown and yellow rust. The prototype system incorporates novel cyclonic pathogen collection, on-board sample processing and isothermal DNA amplification chemistry (LAMP). We present the engineering design, optimisation and evaluation of our prototype system reporting on successfully completed laboratory testing and initial field trial results. This prototype will be the basis for the development of a commercially available system which, in addition to inoculum detection, will be capable of providing growers/agronomists with real-time information on inoculum moving into a crop enabling more effective timing and selection of fungicide application, and thus better control, increased yield, and improved environmental stewardship.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 16 Mar 2017 |
| Event | Innovation in Plant Biosecurity 2017 - Duration: 15 Mar 2017 → 16 Mar 2017 |
Conference
| Conference | Innovation in Plant Biosecurity 2017 |
|---|---|
| Period | 15/03/17 → 16/03/17 |
| Other | This major conference will bring together plant health professionals and invasive species experts from across Great Britain & beyond, to discuss novel strategies for improving plant biosecurity and establish a sustainable knowledge exchange. The conference is organised against the backdrop of the Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain, as released in 2014, and revisions to the EU Plant Health Regime, which are soon to be realised. Great Britain's forests, woods and trees are under threat from a growing number of pests and diseases. Many of these threats are alien; historically not present in the UK having been introduced from overseas. Some of these threats may reach the UK naturally i.e. as wind-borne spores from continental Europe; potentially one pathway for introduction of the disease ash die-back. The alternative and probably more common pathway of introduction is via human activity, especially trade; for example through the movement of infected plants (another pathway identified for ash die-back) or the shipping of goods associated with infested timber (as is suspected to be the case with the recent introduction of the Asian long-horn beetle into Kent in packaging crates for stone). These cases illustrate that existing biosecurity measures are vulnerable and that we need to do more to improve our nation's biosecurity and protect our plants and trees; both cultivated and in the wider environment. |