Novel real-time disease surveillance and fungicide resistance monitoring tools to foster a smart and sustainable crop protection platform in Brazil

• Grant number: 18/21197-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: May 01, 2019
• End date: April 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Agreement: BBSRC, UKRI ; Newton Fund, with FAPESP as a partner institution in Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Cezar Ceresini
• Grantee: Paulo Cezar Ceresini
• Principal researcher abroad: Bartholomeus Antonius Fraaije
• Institution abroad: Rothamsted Research, England
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia (FEIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Ilha Solteira. Ilha Solteira , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Carlos Gilberto Raetano ; Maria Candida de Godoy Gasparoto
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/12509-1 - Novel real-time disease surveillance and fungicide resistance monitoring tools to foster a smart and sustainable crop protection platform in Brazil, BP.PD

Abstract

Resistance to chemical agents used to control pests, weeds and pathogens is a threat to effective crop protection and therefore to food security. Tighter regulations and a slowing pipeline of new products have also reduced the range of available chemical classes. This has led to a greater dependence on fewer fungicides and mode of actions, increasing the selection for further cases of resistance. The limited availability of effective crop protection products, coupled with lack of genetic resistance in major crop varieties, is making key pathogens increasingly difficult to control. In order to prolong the effective life of current and new crop protection products, evolution-smart integrated pest management strategies are needed. Strategies based on different dose rates, alternations and mixtures of fungicides have been advocated to reduce the selection of resistance. However, debate continues as to which strategies are most effective and there is a need for more empirical data on the fundamental evolutionary processes underlying the selection of resistance. Three key fungicide classes [azoles, quinone outside inhibitors (QoIs) and succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHIs)] are currently used for the control of many plant pathogens. This project will focus on three major diseases in Brazil: Asian soybean rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi), the banana Sigatoka disease complex (Mycosphaerella fijiensis and M. musicola) and wheat blast (Pyricularia graminis-tritici). Resistance to one or more fungicide groups has been detected in all four pathogens, but the occurrence of resistance within Brazil or the molecular mechanisms conferring resistance are not yet known in all cases. In addition, onset of disease epidemics is poorly understood and, therefore, appropriate anti-resistance strategies and optimal disease control cannot be achieved. In order to rationalize fungicide inputs (e.g. product choice, dose rate, spray frequency and timing, and mixing/alternation of fungicides), and to test anti-resistance strategies aiming to reduce disease inoculum (for example effect of crop free periods of soybean) and delay evolution and spread of resistance against current and new fungicides, high throughput monitoring tools, enabling quantitative measurement of pathogen levels and detection of fungicide resistant alleles, in combination with disease forecasting, are needed. We will develop real-time disease surveillance, using automated spore trapping with pathogen DNA detection. The status and molecular mechanisms of fungicide resistance in Brazilian pathogen isolates will be assessed, and further resistance evolution predicted through experimental evolution and functional characterization of resistant alleles. We will then develop molecular diagnostics for rapid, high-throughput monitoring of fungicide resistance. An online portal to share tools, results and recommendations with farmers, agrochemical industry and other stake-holders will be created. Improved disease forecasting and optimized disease management strategies would benefit growers (lower production costs), consumers (food safety, residue reduction) and the environment (reduced pesticide applications), by avoiding unnecessary (no epidemic forecast) or ineffective (high levels of resistance) fungicide applications, and prolonging the effectiveness of fungicides for when they are needed. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

OLIVEIRA, TAMIRIS Y. K.; SILVA, TATIANE C.; MOREIRA, SILVINO I.; CHRISTIANO JR, FELIX S.; GASPAROTO, MARIA C. G.; FRAAIJE, BART A.; CERESINI, PAULO C.. Evidence of Resistance to QoI Fungicides in Contemporary Populations of Mycosphaerella fijiensis, M. musicola and M. thailandica from Banana Plantations in Southeastern Brazil. AGRONOMY-BASEL, v. 12, n. 12, p. 19-pg., 2022-12-01. (17/50456-1, 18/21197-0, 19/12509-1, 20/07611-9, 21/03402-9)

VICENTINI, SAMARA N. C.; CASADO, PRISCILA S.; DE CARVALHO, GISELLE; MOREIRA, I, SILVINO; DORIGAN, ADRIANO F.; SILVA, TATIANE C.; SILVA, ABIMAEL G.; CUSTODIO, ADRIANO A. P.; GOMES, ANA CAROLINA S.; MACIEL, JOAO L. NUNES; et al. onitoring of Brazilian wheat blast field populations reveals resistance to QoI, DMI, and SDHI fungicide. PLANT PATHOLOGY, v. 71, n. 2, SEP 2021. (17/50456-1, 19/12509-1, 15/10453-8, 18/21197-0, 13/10655-4, 20/07611-9)

CAMPOS VICENTINI, SAMARA NUNES; MOREIRA, SILVINO INTRA; DA SILVA, ABIMAEL GOMES; KIYAMA DE OLIVEIRA, TAMIRIS YOSHIE; SILVA, TATIANE CARLA; ASSIS JUNIOR, FABIO GOMES; KRUG, LOANE DANTAS; DE PAIVA CUSTODIO, ADRIANO AUGUSTO; LEITE JUNIOR, RUI PEREIRA; TEODORO, PAULO EDUARDO; et al. Efflux Pumps and Multidrug-Resistance in Pyricularia oryzae Triticum Lineage. AGRONOMY-BASEL, v. 12, n. 9, p. 12-pg., 2022-09-01. (20/07611-9, 18/21197-0, 19/12509-1, 17/50456-1)

SILVA, TATIANE CARLA; MOREIRA, SILVINO INTRA; ASSIS JR, FABIO GOMES; CAMPOS VICENTINI, SAMARA NUNES; SILVA, ABIMAEL GOMES; KITAYAMA DE OLIVEIRA, TAMIRIS YOSHIE; CHRISTIANO JR, FELIX SEBASTIAO; DE PAIVA CUSTODIO, ADRIANO AUGUSTO; LEITE JR, RUI PEREIRA; DE GODOY GASPAROTO, MARIA CANDIDA; et al. An Accurate, Affordable, and Precise Resazurin-Based Digital Imaging Colorimetric Assay for the Assessment of Fungicide Sensitivity Status of Fungal Populations. AGRONOMY-BASEL, v. 13, n. 2, p. 19-pg., 2023-02-01. (20/07611-9, 21/03402-9, 18/21197-0, 19/12509-1, 17/50456-1)

CAMPOS VICENTINI, SAMARA NUNES; HAWKINS, NICHOLA J.; KING, KEVIN M.; MOREIRA, SILVINO INTRA; DE PAIVA CUSTODIO, ADRIANO AUGUSTO; LEITE JUNIOR, RUI PEREIRA; PORTALANZA, DIEGO; GARCES-FIALLOS, FELIPE RAFAEL; KRUG, LOANE DANTAS; WEST, JONATHAN S.; et al. Aerobiology of the Wheat Blast Pathogen: Inoculum Monitoring and Detection of Fungicide Resistance Alleles. AGRONOMY-BASEL, v. 13, n. 5, p. 17-pg., 2023-04-27. (22/09787-2, 20/07611-9, 21/03402-9, 18/21197-0, 19/12509-1, 17/50456-1)

POLONI, NADIA MARIA; CARVALHO, GISELLE; NUNES CAMPOS VICENTINI, SAMARA; FRANCIS DORIGAN, ADRIANO; NUNES MACIEL, JOAO LEODATO; MCDONALD, BRUCE A.; INTRA MOREIRA, SILVINO; HAWKINS, NICHOLA; FRAAIJE, BART A.; KELLY, DIANE E.; et al. Widespread distribution of resistance to triazole fungicides in Brazilian populations of the wheat blast pathogen. PLANT PATHOLOGY, v. 70, n. 2, OCT 2020. (13/10655-4, 19/12509-1, 17/50456-1, 18/21197-0, 15/10453-8)

DE AZAMBUJA PEREIRA, MAIKON RICHER; MOREIRA, SILVINO INTRA; DA SILVA, ABIMAEL GOMES; NUNES, TIAGO CALVES; CAMPOS VICENTINI, SAMARA NUNES; DA SILVA, DAVI PRATA; DA SILVEIRA, PATRICIA RICARDINO; KIYAMA DE OLIVEIRA, TAMIRIS YOSHIE; SILVA, TATIANE CARLA; DOS SANTOS BOTELHO, DEILA MAGNA; et al. Potential of Pseudomonas and Trichoderma from the Brazilian Amazon as Biocontrol Agents against the Wheat Blast Disease. AGRONOMY-BASEL, v. 12, n. 9, p. 17-pg., 2022-09-01. (18/21197-0, 19/12509-1, 20/07611-9, 20/01675-5)