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Microbial attachment to endoparasitic phytonematodes in soil
Project
Project code: JKI-EP-08-2258
Contract period: 01.09.2015
- 30.09.2018
Purpose of research: Basic research
Sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes are among the most damaging pests in agriculture. The control of these emerging pests is becoming more difficult since recently nematicides have been banned which are severe threats to health and environment. The observation that biotic factors of some soils act suppressive against plant-parasitic nematodes, and that this can be enhanced by organic soil amendments led to the suggestion for an integrated soil biology management. However, it remained unclear which species and processes are involved in soil suppressiveness. In pre-experiments we showed that specific soil microbes attached to second-stage juveniles (J2) of nematodes, which migrate to and penetrate roots of the host plant. There the J2 evade the plant immune system, establish a feeding site and build progeny. We recently showed for one soil that propagation can be significantly affected by soil microbial communities. Our objective is to characterize the microbiome of J2 that they acquire in soil and investigate the specificity and ecological role of the microbial attachment, especially with respect to soil suppressiveness. It will be investigated whether the attached microbes interact with the plant immune system so that a better defence against the nematode is achieved. The results will help to understand soil suppressiveness against plant-parasitic nematodes and give the opportunity to better target measures within an integrated soil biology management for a sustainably productive agriculture.
Section overview
Subjects
- Crop Protection
- Soil science
Framework programme
Funding programme
Excutive institution
Institute for Epidemiology and Pathogen Diagnostics (JKI-EP)