It ’s been 100 eld since Wageningen University & Research ( WUR ) started work on phytopathology . Over the past century , the section has nurtured the careers of leading scientist and bring out groundbreaking research in the field of industrial plant disease . Researcher Joeke Postma and chairholder Gert Kema explicate how their professional field has changed over the year and discuss the specific developments that have driven those changes .
control flora disease is crucial to food certificate . virus , fungi , and bacteria have the potential to lay waste to entire harvests , leading to severe famines . How precisely do pathogen cause disease in plant ? And how can we make plants more springy ? " These questions have been the primary focussing of the Phytopathology department for a hundred now . However , while the substance challenge has remained consistent , Joeke Postma , a investigator at Wageningen Plant Research , notes meaning changes in a myriad of related issues .
" Just think of all the character of pathogens . Factors such as mood change and novel types of agricultural systems have meant that batch of pathogens have go forth while others have vanished . Fungi and viruses are themselves also constantly develop , partly as a result of the cultivation of new harvest breeds and immune varieties . "
Faster data collection and processingPostma first join Wageningen in the belated 1970s as a student . " One of the first inquiry projects I worked on was about the ecology of soil pathogens . I was supervised by Gerrit Bollen on that . The question was whether adding compost to soils would make them able-bodied to suppress works pathogen . The compost we used came from Belgium because disease - suppressive compost was n’t yet usable in the Netherlands . I isolate as many microorganisms out of the compost as I could . In Holy Order to identify fungi , I had to examine their morphological characteristics under a microscope . That was veridical drudgery . Identification found on desoxyribonucleic acid sequencing did n’t exist back then . The collecting and processing of turgid quantity of data are much quicker now . "
egress and role of molecular technologyDNA sequencing is an instance of molecular engineering . The emergence of molecular technology has led to huge changes in the airfield of industrial plant pathology research , say Gert Kema , chairholder in Phytopathology at WUR . " It has enabled us to look at and describe diversity in an wholly unexampled manner . This has led to some extraordinary findings . One of the most important results within our section descend out of the body of work of the group lead by my predecessor , Pierre de Wit . In the former 1990s , they were the first to clone a fungous avirulence gene . The gene is recognized by resistant varieties , which means those works do n’t get sick . This work has had a unsounded and durable encroachment on phytopathology and industrial plant raising . "
Greater focus on tropic cropsKema started at Wageningen in 1982 , conducting enquiry on chickenhearted rusting in wheat . He also expend many years working on septoria leaf spot and obtained his Ph.D. on that matter under the superintendence of Jan Zadoks . Since 2004 , Kema has been part of a squad doing research into banana tree disease . " When I embark on doing that , my co - workers laughed at me . ' Why would we study bananas in Wageningen , they ’re just a fruit ! ' But banana are a crucial food crop for million of people around the creation . That was something I really require to excuse to hoi polloi . Now , everyone thinks it ’s cracking , and they recognize the urging . Over the past decade , the department has also started focusing more on other tropical crop , such as cocoa and oil decoration . That form of research requires really good collaboration with oversea partners , which is a stack easier now than it was in the twentieth 100 . "
Collaboration with other subject area and partners in the fieldThese days , collaboration plays a big role overall at Wageningen . " search into plant life diseases ask not just knowledge of plants and pathogen , but also of bionomics and soils , for example , " says Postma . " We endeavor to pool those areas of expertness as much as possible . When I was first starting out , I had to campaign to get together with other subject area . Personally , I always insisted that we call for to focus on ground liveliness . I ’m rather proud that there ’s a liberal consensus now within phytopathology on the importance of this . And sure as shooting , within Wageningen Research , we ’re always depend for mutually good opportunity with partners in the field . Those relationships enable us to run on the trouble that are most relevant in practice , which then amplifies the shock of our inquiry . Collaboration is also important because we ’re increasingly dependent on private - sphere funding . "
free burning leadership in phytopathologyAccording to Kema , it ’s difficult to submit unambiguously the extent to which the section in Wageningen has contributed to combat plant life disease over the retiring one C . " First of all , it ’s unrealistic to think that we can totally annihilate any plant disease across the whole world . At best , we might be able to do so topically . Globalization and mood modification have only exacerbated the challenges . But eradicating disease is n’t even our target in the first place . We ’re mainly focused on sympathise the interaction between plant and pathogens and on increasing the resilience of crops . And in that sense , WUR has long been a leading player in the inquiry world , not least in the field of disease affect grain and potatoes . "
A well understanding of infection and protection processesFinally , what developments do the investigator await to act a salient role in phytopathology over the next few years ? Postma expects that micro - level research will be one of the driver of the field . " At the moment , we often work with composite stain sampling where everything is homogenized . But that does n’t let you to watch over the physical interactions between a fungus , other soil being , the stain matrix , and a plant ’s root system . If we had a just understanding of that , we would prepare a well understanding of the processes of contagion and the auspices provided by grease life . "
unreal chromosomes and information integrationKema is strike by the developing of artificial chromosome . " If we see success in the further ontogeny of those , we may be able to simulate resistance genes . Aside from that , I also ask contrived intelligence ( AI ) to touch off major variety . I also see a luck of potential within multidisciplinarity and datum integration . If you were to mix information about things like the weather , soil , fungus kingdom , and plants into a single political platform , you ’d get an even clearer linear perspective of the levers you involve to turn to increase harvest resilience or productivity . There ’s still so much to discover and amend , and that ’s what make this field of battle so fascinating and everlastingly relevant . "
reservoir : wur.nl
