Research collaboration between China and Denmark for development of systemic approaches to agro-ecological pest management without pesticides with focus on vegetable, fruit and berry crops. Proceedings and recommendations from two network workshops

This report is the result of a network project which was established to discuss the potential for collaboration on development of systemic approaches to pest management without pesticides between Chinese and Danish researchers. The focus is on systemic approaches rather than input substitution of synthetic chemicals with agents of natural origin, however, the latter is considered as an integrated tool for the development and design of systemic approaches. The discussions were, furthermore, limited to management of invertebrate pests as well as diseases, while other pests such as weeds have not been included in the discussions. The discussions took place at two workshops and were based on presentations of research from the two countries and field visits in China and Denmark. After the first workshop that took place in China, it was agreed that Chinese and Danish researchers in this particular field had mutual interests and priorities and that there was a potential for creating collaboration that could yield results beneficial for the agricultural/horticultural sectors in both countries. It was also agreed that in spite of the many differences between variation in climate and ecosystems, as well as in farming systems and their organization in China and Denmark, there were many similarities in the production of high-value crops in the two countries, such as vegetables, fruit and berries and, therefore, an obvious focus for joint research efforts. It was also agreed that joint research efforts could aim at specific crops as well as aiming at the development of specific research approaches. Based on the observations and the agreements of the first workshop, the second workshop, which took place in Denmark, focused more specifically on the development of a research framework with specified research questions/topics. Two groups were formed – one working with vegetables and one with fruit and berries working in parallel – both looking into what kind of research is needed for development of systemic approaches to pesticide-free pest management should include both well-known practices and new practices. Although the discussions in the two groups took separate routes and unfolded and described the research topics in each their way, there was a clear consistency between the outputs of the work of the two groups. Each had identified three main research themes that more or less followed the same line and has been merged into three specific recommendations on themes for collaboration, namely: 1) ‘Research to provide the biological foundation and understanding of mechanisms and interactions for development of non-chemical solutions and to improve efficiency of new and existing control methods for severe pest problems’. 2) Research in ‘How best to integrate multifunctional plants (and crops) and use diversification to create a more healthy and productive farming system which is resilient to pests?’ 3) Research in ‘How to design and integrate pest management in eco-functional cropping systems at field and farm/landscape level?

Plant Diseases

Plant pathogens, the causal agent of infectious plant diseases, influence our lives more than just as an economic impact through yield lost. The study of plant pathogens has given rise to the development of new sciences, new technologies for plant breeding, and the agrochemical industry for pesticide developments. Yet, all our actions and efforts to suppress or eradicate them constantly pressures these various organisms to evolve and adapt for survival. Therefore today, when facing climate changes, accelerated transport of plants and plant products, and world population growth, we have to ask quo vadis phytopathology. Like Alice in Wonderland “If we wish to go anywhere we must run twice as fast as that” so we need to constantly broaden our knowledge. However, today’s literature abounds with knowledge about plant pathogens. Hence, this book intends to present to the reader all the latest material and knowledge about plant pathogens, changes or refinements in plant disease epidemiology, and new approaches and materials used for plant pathogen control. Hopefully, this book will be of interest to those working within the field and looking for an up-to-date introduction. We hope it also interests students and thereby, will influence the future development of phytopathology and our better coexistence with plant pathogens

Country Case Study – Nepal

human development, climate change

Compost and digestate: sustainability, benefits, impacts for the environment and for plant production

This proceedings volume contains the papers presented at the CODIS 2008 congress held on 27 - 29 February 2008 in Solothurn (Switzerland).The composting and digestion of biogenic waste materials and the subsequent application of compost and digestate to soil contributes to nutrient recycling and renewable energy production. Moreover, compost and digestate can improve soil fertility and suppress plant diseases. On the other hand, compost and digestate may also contain a variety of pollutants hazardous to soil, such as heavy metals and organic contaminants.Compost and digestate have been thoroughly investigated in the framework of two associated projects entitled Organic Pollutants in Compost and Digestate in Switzerland and Effects of Composts and Digestate on the Environment, Soil Fertility and Plant Health. These projects yielded new insights into the properties of compost and digestate, mainly with regard to biological parameters and the occurrence of both classic and emerging organic pollutants.The CODIS 2008 congress was the final event of these two projects

UPDATE ON THE BIOPESTICIDE REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF PROTEIN-BASED PRODUCTS FOR THE BIOCONTROL OF CROP DISEASES

In the last decades, concerns on the negative drawbacks of chemical pesticides on human health and environment have raised interest in safer alternatives; biopesticides, such as biogenic elicitors, represent an encouraging solution. The regulatory approach in the European Union does not distinguish biopesticides as a specific category of plant protection, and for this reason they are subjected to the same regulations as synthetic chemicals, requiring several authorization steps for the final approval and marketing. Among others, protein-based products and peptide fragments can stimulate plant growth, and represent a wide category of elicitors able to reduce the symptoms of common crop diseases, by acting as stimulators of plant defence and influencing systemic resistance processes, which can be regarded as effective alternative to synthetic chemical pesticides. The final objective of the current doctoral project was to provide new insights on the use of bioactive protein-based products against crop diseases, to further develop new sustainable strategies for organic agricultural practices. More in details, as well as providing an updated overview of the regulatory procedures for the authorization of biopesticides, the specific goals of the present research were i) to characterize the mode of action of protein-based products against crop diseases and ii) to optimize a method for the low-cost production of bioactive protein-based products. For this purpose, we analysed the mechanisms of action of a protein derivative called nutrient broth (NB) against grapevine downy mildew (caused by Plasmopara viticola), focusing on its roles as resistance inducer and nutritional source for phyllosphere microbial populations (Chapter 2). We showed that NB reduced downy mildew symptoms and induced the expression of defence-related genes in greenhouse- and in vitro-grown plants, indicating the activation of grapevine defence processes. Furthermore, NB increased the number of culturable phyllosphere bacteria, and altered the composition of bacterial and fungal populations on grapevine leaves. Thus, modifications in the structure of leaf populations caused by NB application could partially contribute to downy mildew control by competition for space/nutrients with the pathogen or other biocontrol strategies. Particularly, changes in the abundance of phyllosphere microorganisms may provide a cont ribution to the resistance induction, partially affecting the hormone-mediated signalling pathways involved. Later, we optimized an experimental procedure to develop low-cost protein hydrolysates starting from plant agro-industrial by-products, since animal-derived protein derivatives may create concerns about food safety (Chapter 3). Particularly, we compared the effect of enzymatic and acid hydrolysis on different plant protein sources (soybean, rapeseed and guar protein meals), in terms of efficacy against the powdery mildew of Cucurbitaceae (caused on courgette plants by Podosphaera xanthii), investigating the potential contribution of amino acids and peptide fragment s generated during the hydrolysis to the activation of plant resistance. Our results showed that the original protein source affected the biocontrol properties of protein hydrolysates, and two hydrolysis processes improved the functional properties of guar protein meal against powdery mildew. A positive correlation was found between the efficacy and degree of hydrolysis of guar acid hydrolysates, suggesting that the hydrolysis method may enhance the functional properties of the original protein source. In addition, significant correlations were revealed between the efficacy of guar hydrolysates and concentrations of specific peptide fragments and amino acids, which may be involved in the regulation of the plant defence response. Specifically, guar enzymatic hydrolysates did not present a direct toxic effect against the germination of pathogenic conidia, suggesting a mode of action mainly based on the stimulation of plant resistance mechanisms, as observed for NB. The possibility of controlling crop diseases with the preventive foliar application of protein-based products represents an innovative approach, especially in a view of reducing harmful chemical pesticides in integrated pest management programs. However, further studies are required to fully clarify their modes of action and the impact on phyllosphere microorganisms under field conditions

Scoping study on natural resources and climate change in Southeast Asia with a focus on agriculture. Final report

Climate change / Natural resources / Environmental effects / Agroecology / Agricultural production / Crops / Cropping systems / Farming systems / Livestock / Fisheries / Food security / Water management / Economic aspects / Rural poverty / Policy / Nutrient management / South East Asia / Cambodia / Laos / Thailand / Vietnam / Myanmar / China / Greater Mekong Subregion / Tonle Sap / Yunnan

Vegetable Crops

In ancient times, people benefited from ingesting different parts of various weeds (root, stem, shoot, leaf, flower, fruit, seed, etc.) to maintain a healthy life. People have obtained the vegetables we grow today by succeeding in cultivating these weeds. This book explains the health benefits of vegetable crops, organic vegetable growing, greenhouse management, and principles of irrigation management for vegetable crops