Scientists fighting to reduce dependence on chemical fungicides

Scientists at the Institution of Plant Protection Biology within the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, have been researching into how to reduce the dependence on chemical fungicides in farming.

The goal of the researchers has been to understand plant defense mechanisms and so produce plants that are more resistant to disease, which will lessen pesticide use, and ultimately benefit the environment, and have been using Qlucore Omics Explorer to aid their research.

The research is focused on how plants defend themselves against oomycetes and fungi. Oomycetes, also known as 'water molds', are a group of several hundred organisms that include some of the most devastating plant pathogens. The diseases they cause include seedling blights, damping-off, root rots, foliar blights and downy mildews. Some notable diseases are the late blight of potato, downy mildew of grape vine, sudden oak death, and root and stem rot of soybean. The team of 16 at the Institution of Plant Protection Biology have been studying biochemical components of plant defense and the interactions with pathogens and trying to identify resistance factors that can be used in future breeding for disease resistance crops, and in developing methods for induced resistance by applying non-toxic inducing agents. The goal is to reduce the dependence on chemical fungicides...

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