Program & Abstracts

C-IPM Workshop on:

Breeding for IPM in sustainable and low-input agricultural systems

Program & Abstracts IHAR-PIB Radzików, PL July 4th-6th, 2016

Program & Abstracts

COMMITTEES SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE           

Piet Boonekamp, DLO, the Netherlands Jerzy Czembor, IHAR, Poland Veronique Decroocq, INRA, France Mati Koppel, Estonian Crop Research Institute, Estonia Małgorzata Korbin, InHort, Poland Per Kudsk, Aarhus University, Denmark Jay Ram Lamichhane, INRA, France Antoine Messéan, INRA, France Akos Mesterhazy, Cereal Research Center, Hungary Danuta Sosnowska, IOR, Poland Ewa Zimnoch-Guzowska, IHAR, Poland

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Edward Arseniuk (IHAR) Elzbieta Kochańska-Czembor (IHAR) Karolina Mitura-Nowak (IHAR) Elżbieta Kozik (InHort) Józef Robak (InHort) Piotr Sobiczewski (InHort)

Edward Żurawicz (InHort) Regina Janas (InHort) Jakub Danielewicz (IOR) Tomasz Góral (IHAR) Wojciech Borawski (IHAR)

EDITORS Jay Ram Lamichhane, Edward Arseniuk and Antoine Messéan

Technical assistance Wojciech Borawski, Karolina Mitura-Nowak

05-870 Błonie, PL, Radzików phone: (+48) 22 733 45 00 e-mail: [email protected]; http://www.ihar.edu.pl ISBN 83-891172-85-2 Printing and binding: Biuro Wydawnictw i Reklamy „WiR”

1/22, Marii Jasnorzewskiej Str., 01-863 Warszawa, [email protected], phone (+48) 22 648 42 81 2

C-IPM Workshop on: „Breeding for IPM in sustainable and low-imput agricultural systems”

C-IPM Workshop on: “Breeding for IPM in sustainable and low-input agricultural systems”

Agenda Day

Hour

Speakers/Moderators

Arrival of participants in Warsaw Chopin airport – transport to Hotel

July 3rd Sunday July 4th Monday

Schedule

08:15 - 09:00 AM

Registration and welcome coffee – IHAR-PIB Radzików

09:00 - 09:30

Antoine Messéan / Edward Arseniuk / Minister or repreWelcome and Introductory session sentative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

09:30 - 09:50

Role of crop diversification to boost IPM and implications for breeding

Antoine Messéan, FR

09:50 - 10:10

Ongoing EU research and priorities on breeding for IPM and gains provided by breeding

Jay Ram Lamichhane, FR

10:10 - 10:30

Resistance breeding programs of arable crop varieties for sustainable and low-input agriculture to boost

Edward Arseniuk, PL & Jerzy Czembor, PL

10:30 - 10:50

Time for coffee and a snack

10:50

Plenary session: New and welldocumented technologies and plant Piet Boonekamp traits that are suitable for IPM

10:50 - 11:15

Breeding for resistance against toxic fungi in wheat and maize combined with updated fungicide technology Akos Mesterhazy, HUN to reduce effectively toxin contamination in grain

11:15 - 11:40

Breeding for partial disease resistance in wheat – and how this can reduce the need for chemical disease control

Morten Lillemo, NO

Prospects for using genomic selec11:40 - 12:05 PM tion breeding strategies in low-input Torben Asp, Aarhus, DK agriculture 12:05 - 12:30

Pest management for sustainable agriculture in Spain

12:30 - 01:00

Experience of ten years blight research on potato with a cis-genesis Piet Boonekamp, NL approach - final results and communication achievements

Pedro Revilla, ES

01:00 - 02:00 PM Lunch Program & Abstracts

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02:00 02:00 - 02:30

Search for resistant germplasm to major pathogens of potato

Ewa Zimnoch-Guzowska, PL

02:30 - 03:00

National Action Plan (NAP) to reduce the risks arising from the use of plant protection products

Jakub Danielewicz, PL & Danuta Sosnowska, PL

03:00 - 03:30

Breeding for resistance to biotic stresses of vegetable crops

Elżbieta Kozik, PL

03:30 - 04:00

Breeding for resistance to diseases and pests of fruit crops at the Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland

Edward Żurawicz, PL & Małgorzata Korbin, PL

04:00 - 04:30

Breeding for resistance to insects

Zbigniew Dąbrowski, PL

04:30 - 05:00

Questions and discussion

05:00 July 5th Tuesday

Plenary session: Breeding research for IPM done in Research Insti- Zbigniew Dąbrowski tutes and Universities of Poland

09:00 AM

Departure to the hotels and free evening Plenary session: Follow-up: New and well-documented technologies Akos Mesterhazy and plant traits that are suitable for IPM

09:00 - 09:30

New Breeding technologies to Clemens van de Wiel, NL support Integrated Pest Management

09:30 - 10:00

Molecular mechanisms underlying induced cereal resistance to aphids

Bogumił Leszczyński, PL

10:00 - 10:30

Breeding for insect resistance for organic and conventional farming systems

Olga Scholten, NL

10:30 - 11:00


11:00

11:00 – 11:30

Plenary session: Combining breeding material with cultivation pracVeronique Decroocq tices for an improved integrated pest management Barley breeding in Nordic countries: effect of nitrogen use efficiency, Marja Jalli, FI disease resistance traits and genetic diversity

Assessment of wheat cultivar resistance to orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana 11:30 - 12:00 PM (Géhin) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Jean-Pierre Jansen, BE using a phenotyping method under controlled conditions and its implication for IPM

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12:00 12:30

The challenges in breeding for disease resistance arising from dynamic Tine Thach, DK pathogen populations

12:30 - 01:00

New challenges for breeding varieties adapted to mixed cropping systems

01:00 - 01:30

Plant-Pathogen(s) interactions in natural environment: How can these interactions provide novel and dura- Véronique Decroocq, FR ble approaches for breeding and sustainable disease management?

01:30

Lunch

02:30

Visiting IHAR-PIB Radzikow fields (and labs) with resistance testing experiments of arable crops (cereals, legumes, grasses)

Jérome Enjalbert, FR

Conference dinner: Visit in the "Chopin" Museum and Social Dinner 05:00 - 09:00 PM at Restaurant in Zelazowa Wola "Przepis na kompot" July 6th Wednesday

09:00 AM

Plenary session: Follow-up: Combining breeding material with culPer Kudsk tivation practices for an improved integrated pest management

09:00 - 09:30

Testing breeding aims in German winter wheat in the field with respect Bettina Klocke, DE to cropping systems and fungicide strategies

09:30 - 10:00

Suggested cereals and Oilseed rape varieties for Integrated Pest Manage- Roma Semaškienė, LT ment under Lithuanian conditions

10:00 - 10:30


Roundtable discussion on whether or not breeding for IPM R&D programmes exist really, how to inteVeronique Decroocq, FR & 10:30 - 01:00 PM grate breeding and new breeding Antoine Messéan, FR technologies in a wider IPM context and identify priorities for R&D programmes 01:00 - 01:15

Closing remarks and next steps

Edward Arseniuk, PL & Antoine Messéan, FR

01:15 - 02:00 PM Lunch 02:00 PM

Departure to the airport/train station

Program & Abstracts

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ABSTRACTS WELCOME AND INTRODUCTORY SESSION Role of crop diversification to boost IPM and implications for breeding A. Messéan, J. R. Lamichhane & J.-M. Meynard INRA Grignon, Ave Lucien Brétignières, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France The post-war agricultural revolution has led to a significant intensification of European agriculture owing mainly to mechanization and the large-scale use of inputs. This intensification was accompanied by the progressive specialization of farms as well as a high level of geographic specialization of agricultural systems (e.g., geographic separation between livestock and arable production). Within cropping systems, there has also been a trend to reduce the number of crops as farmers gradually focused on the high-yielding and most profitable crop varieties. The use of plant protection products and the development of adapted varieties made increased adoption of short rotations or monoculture practices possible. All these changes in cropping systems finally hampered an effective uptake of integrated crop production in general and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies in particular by farmers. On the other hand, crop diversification, at the field level (within a growing season or over a crop rotation) or at the landscape level (diversification of mosaic and optimal deployment of crop/ varieties), has a strong potential to improve resilience and sustainability of agricultural production systems. When well managed, crop diversification may help reduce the use of inputs -- pesticides, fertilizer, water - thereby limiting the adverse effects on the environment, resulting from their excessive use. By reducing pest pressure at the field and landscape levels, crop diversification represents a key preventive component of IPM strategies as recommended by the Directive on Sustainable Use of Pesticides. Despite all benefits it may provide, the adoption of crop diversification practice is still limited by a series of technical and organizational barriers along the food production and supply chain systems. This is true both within the research and development sector as well as in the policy and regulatory frameworks, which altogether have been accompanying the specialization process described above. The limited range of crop varieties available for minor crops is among the major obstacles to crop diversification thereby confining certain beneficial practices, together with the adaptation of varieties to multiple cropping or intercropping strategies. Even for those crops that are widely grown and for which breeding investment is significant, breeding criteria have been driven by the needs of conventional cropping systems mainly targeting on agronomic performances such as yield potential, technological characteristics to meet requirements of downstream supply chains, and, to a less extent, to pest resistance. Recent developments of agricultural policies call for more diversified cropping systems, both at the local and regional levels across Europe, aimed at a reduced reliance on pesticides. IPM strategies should therefore include crop diversification as one of their components. Given the strategic role of breeding in the competitiveness of crops and their adaptation to more diversified cropping systems, there is a need to assess to what extent breeding strategies and programmes could consider breeding criteria that can help implement IPM strategies, not only at the plant level (e.g., disease resistance) but also by considering other components of cropping systems (with special emphasis on minor crops) and in combination with other technical or organizational innovations. The paper illustrates some examples of breeding criteria that would facilitate crop diversification including: adaptation to intercropping, aboveground versus belowground competition with weeds, competitiveness of minor crops, and deployment of varieties at the landscape level.

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Resistance breeding programs of arable crop varieties for sustainable and low-input agriculture to boost IPM in Poland E. Arseniuk, J. H. Czembor Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute, Radzikow, 05-870 Błonie, Poland This work describes gaps and needs to develop arable crop varieties for sustainable, low-input agricultural systems. For low-input farming systems we consider those systems which "seek to optimize the management and use of internal production inputs (i.e. on-farm resources)... and to minimize the use of production inputs (i.e. off-farm resources). This includes but not limited to purchased fertilizers and pesticides, wherever and whenever feasible and practicable, to reduce production costs, to avoid contamination of surface and groundwater, to reduce pesticide residues in or on food, to reduce overall risks of farmers, and to increase both short- and long-term farm profitability." Because of farming structure and a high adoption of on-farm resources the major part of the farming systems in Poland is classified as a low-input one. However, a large proportion of Polish farms uses off-farm resources which could thus be classified as high-input farming systems. In general the farming systems in Poland undergo steady changes and sustainable agricultural approach is being developed. This is especially because plant varieties grown under sustainable and low-input farming systems, not solely in Poland but also elsewhere, are expected to have less pest pressure as such agricultural systems are more resilient to environmental stresses. Many of the methods developed for sustainable and/or low-input agricultural system are in part also derived from conventional agriculture. For example, Integrated Pest Management, a multifaceted system that uses various pest management methods, considers plant resistance as a key lever for pest management whenever possible although it is not well-known whether the breeding approach for conventional agriculture differs from that for IPM. Breeding for resistance is of paramount importance for Polish agriculture, mainly for arable crops and it encompasses the following diseases and pests: I. Wheat: 1. Fusarium foot and root rot; 2. Eye spot (Oculimacula spp., syn, Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides); 3. Fusarium head blight (Fusańum spp.); 4. Powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis); 5. Brown rust (Puccinia recondita); 6. Stagonospora glume and leaf blotch (Parastagonospora nodorum); 7. Speckeled leaf blotch (Zymoseptoria tritici); 8. Tan spot (Pyrenophora tritici repentis, Drechslera tritici repentis). II. Barley: 1. Powdery mildes (Blumeria graminis); 2. Net blotch (Pyrenophora teres); 3. Rynchosporium scald (Rhynchosporium secalis); 4. Leaf rust (Puccinia hordei); 5. Viral diseases III. Triticale: 1. Foot and root rots (Fusarium spp.); 2. Yellow rust (Puccinia striiformis); Stagonospora/Septoria glume and leaf blotches (P. nodorum, Z. tritici); Powdery mildew (B. graminis); Fusarium head blight (Fusarium spp.). IV. Rye: 1. Leaf rust (Puccinia recondita). V. Oat: 1. Crown rust (Puccinia coronata); 2. Helminthosporium leaf spot (Pyrenophora avenae); 3. Powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis); 4. Fusarium head blight (Fusarium spp.). VI. Oilseed rape: 1. Club rot (Plasmodiophora brassicae); 2. White mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum); 3. Stem canker (blackleg) (Leptosphaeria spp.); 4. Light leaf spot (Pyrenopeziza brassicae); 5. Leaf and pod spot (Alternaria spp.). VII. Maize: 1. Stalk and cob rots (Fusarium spp.); 2. Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera); 3. European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis); 4. Fusarium wilt (Fusarium spp.). VIII. Sugar beet: 1. Cercospora leaf spot (Cercospora beticola); 2. Rizomania (BNYW); 3. Cyst nematode (Heterodera schachtii). IX. Potato: 1. Potato ring rot (Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. sepedonicus); 2. Late blight (Phytophthora infestans); 3. Early blight (Alternaria spp.); 4. Viral diseases; 5. Golden cyst nematode (Globodera rostochiensis). X. Lupin: 1. Lupin anthracnose (Coletotrichum spp.); 2. Root rot (Fusarium spp.); 3. Rust (Uromyces sp.). XI. Pea: 1. Pea wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi); 2. Leaf and pod spot (Ascochyta sp.); 3. Rust (Uromyces pisi). Program & Abstracts

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XII. Faba bean: 1. Stem and root rot. (Fusarium sp.); 2. Ascochyta leaf and pod spot (Ascochyta fabae); 3. Rusted leaf (Uromyces fabae). The above mentioned list of pathosystems is quite comprehensive and includes new forms of economically important pests. Overall, the population structure studies of these pests are performed as follows: 

sampling of diseased crop materials from different geographic regions of the country (if spores of a given pathogen are dispersed by air, spore samplers are being used),  deriving of monospore isolates from the sampled material,  determination of occurrence of new virulence/pathogenicity frequencies on a set isogenic crop lines/varieties with known resistance genes,  identification of effective resistance genes against the monitored pests,  search for sources of resistance to develop germplasm with new resistance gene. In summary, the knowledge of a pathogen population structure according to its pathogenic composition is of paramount importance to put in place effective breeding programs aimed to develop varieties with new resistance factors. Use of such varieties reduces application of other plant protection products and results in lower plant protection costs.

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PLENARY SESSION: NEW AND WELL-DOCUMENTED TECHNOLOGIES AND PLANT TRAITS THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR IPM

Breeding for resistance against toxic fungi in wheat and maize combined with updated fungicide technology to reduce effectively toxin contamination in grain Mesterhazy1, A. György1,2, A. Szabo-Hever1, M. Varga1,2, B. Szabó1,2, B. Tóth1,2 1

Cereal Research non-profit Ltd, Szeged, Hungary, NAIK Dept. of Plant Production, Szeged, Hungary

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The most important food safety risks in cereals are caused by toxigenic fungi. The general experience is that high toxin contaminations are related to the use of susceptible cultivars. As most cultivars in current production systems are susceptible, their reaction mostly depends on the weather conditions which lead to the outbreak and severity of the epidemics and consequent toxin contaminations. The screenings for resistance in wheat confirmed this fact. Therefore, an interesting question would be how far the disease resistance determines toxin contamination. Thousands of commercial cultivars, and breeding lines from Fusarium head blight (FHB) program were tested in the past decades. The best trait to to be considered for deoxynivalenol (DON) production is the rate of Fusarium damaged kernels (FDK). Ten to twenty times differences between genotype occur regularly in this regard. The resistance to different Fusarium spp. is mainly the same, QTLs are species-neutral, and the breeding against F. graminearum determines resistance also to the other Fusarium species. The correlation between FDK and DON is normally above r = 0.80 in experimental conditions, indicating the decisive role of the resistance in containing toxin contamination. However, genotypes with DON overproduction and DON resistance have been found although their significance is of secondary importance. In maize, the situation is similar but with a higher level of complexity. The resistance against three main pathogens, F. graminearum, F. verticillioides and Aspergillus flavus, often diverges in most hybrids lines. The genetic background behind this feature is however unknown. Here the correlation between the infection severity and toxin contamination is more variable, as in maize a higher level of differences occurs in toxin overproduction and resistance than in wheat. However, the genotypes can be identified with lower risk in production systems. There are genotypes which have 2-4 times higher toxin contamination than others at the same infection severity. For this reason, food safety risk assessment is essential by performing measurements of toxin productions. To this aim, well-planned tests with artificial inoculations experiments are needed with at least two different isolates of the given pathogen. The differences in resistance among cultivars highly differ, often more than ten times or higher, and therefore a regular screening allows us to choose the more resistant hybrids for commercial production. The key message of this work is that the use of resistant cultivars is a prerequisite to preventing toxin contamination. If an epidemic is not properly managed, the toxin contamination levels are very high. Fungicides sprays with improved technology may allow to reduce DON by 70-80 % in wheat. In Hungary moderately resistant cultivars are available in commercial productions which can be grown and harvested without particular problems if effective prevention based on fungicide sprays are done in order to secure the food safety standard. The case of maize is more complex since the protection based on fungicides is still in experimental phase and adequate spray technologies do not exist yet. Therefore the role of crop resistance is even higher for this crop compared with wheat. The detoxification procedure is costly and it is not always effective. Separation of FDK kernels provides satisfactory results in wheat but it results in increased levels of costs and decreased levels of yield. Because ecological and epidemiological conditions are different across regions, the level of resistance needed can be different across different countries and regions. As conclusion, the preference of the more resistant crop genotypes is the key lever to secure food safety . Consequently, the breeding approach should be adapted to the new requirements and more resistant cultivars needed to be developed. Crop resistance integrated with best agronomic practices could provide effective management of these problems. Acknowledgements: MycoRed (KBBE-2007-2-5-05) and GOP 1.1.1-11-2012-0159 projects Program & Abstracts 9

Breeding for partial disease resistance in wheat – and how this can reduce the need for chemical disease control M. Lillemo Department of Plant Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Aas, Norway Wheat production in Norway is based on cultivars with good bread making quality and farmers routinely apply fungicides in order to protect the yield and quality of the crop. The most important wheat diseases have traditionally been powdery mildew, leaf and glume blotch and Fusarium head blight. In 2014 and 2015, we also had major outbreaks of stripe rust for the first time in two decades. Resistance breeding is often advocated as a sustainable alternative to chemical disease control. Complete resistance is, however, not always sustainable if it is based on race-specific resistance genes of short durability. Partial and race non-specific resistance on the other hand works through various mechanisms to slow down disease development. This type of resistance is based on multiple genes with additive effects and works against all races of the pathogen, in some cases even against multiple pathogens. This work reports progress from resistance breeding in Norway, and give examples of how partial resistance can fit into integrated pest management by reducing the fungicide doses or number of sprays necessary to avoid yield and quality losses. Powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici has been an ever-occurring disease problem in Norwegian wheat production since the onset of modern wheat breeding a century ago. Most spring wheat cultivars on the Norwegian market were resistant at the time of release, but has become susceptible within a few years due to emergence of new virulence combinations in the pathogen. Breeding is now focusing on partial and race non-specific resistance, and great progress has been made in understanding the genetic control of partial resistance to powdery mildew. Some partial resistance genes like Lr34, Lr46 and Lr67 also show race non-specific effects to leaf rust, stripe rust and stem rust in addition to powdery mildew. High levels of partial resistance to powdery mildew can be achieved by combining one or two of these genes with other minor quantitative trait loci (QTL) for powdery mildew resistance. In general, a reasonable level of resistance to powdery mildew can eliminate the need for an early fungicide spray. Leaf and glume blotch, caused by Parastagonospora nodorum is the most yield-limiting disease in Norwegian wheat production. In years with frequent rainfall and humid conditions, yield losses up to 30% are frequently observed in unprotected fields. It has recently been shown that the pathogen produces necrotrophic effectors (NEs) that interact with sensitivity loci in the host to induce programmed cell death. Progress in resistance breeding can be achieved by elimination of sensitive loci. Considerable differences in quantitative resistance to leaf blotch exist among the most common spring wheat cultivars on the Norwegian market, which can partly be explained by sensitivity to known NEs. Fungicide trials show that while a susceptible cultivar like Bjarne requires a full dose of conventionally applied fungicides to keep leaf blotch under control, more resistant cultivars like Zebra and Mirakel perform well with only half the dose. The re-emergence of stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici has created a new challenge for Norwegian wheat farmers. Major cultivars like Bjarne and Zebra are susceptible and need extra attention when it comes to disease control, but the situation has also created opportunities for targeted resistance breeding. Fortunately, some of the genes for partial resistance to powdery mildew also give some base protection against stripe rust. In fields with heavy stripe rust infections in 2014 and 2015, fungicide trials showed that a highly susceptible cultivar like Bjarne required a full dose of Proline+Delaro to protect yield and quality. In contrast, for a moderately susceptible cultivar like Zebra only half the dose was required in order to achieve the same protection. In highly resistant cultivars like Mirakel and Krabat, the same trials showed that there was no economic gain at all from applying fungicides.

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Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by various Fusarium spp. is of great concern for human and animal health due to the production of mycotoxins. In Norway, a shift in the pathogen population occurred about a decade ago, and the emergence of F. graminarium as the dominating head blight pathogen has caused serious disease outbreaks in oats, barley and spring wheat. Since no fully effective fungicides are available to control FHB, this is a perfect case for integrated disease control. Routine field testing since 2007 has revealed big differences in resistance among cultivars in all three cereals, and progress has been made in resistance breeding by discarding susceptible lines and only promoting lines in the better half of the resistance spectrum for variety trials and release as cultivars. The most resistant wheat cultivars, like Seniorita and Mirakel give on average a 40% reduction in DON content compared to the most susceptible cultivars Zebra and Demonstrant. This is at a comparable level to the average effect of the most effective triazole fungicides against FHB in wheat. Similar cultivar differences in terms of DON content have been documented for oats, while in barley the differences in resistance among the cultivars on the Norwegian market are even higher. Thus, the farmers can reduce the risk of mycotoxins in their grain harvest considerably by growing the most resistant cultivars, and opting for a fungicide spray at the time of flowering in years with a high risk of FHB epidemics. VIPS is a web-based decision support system for plant protection in Norway, which is funded under a government action for reducing risks related to the use of pesticides. It includes forecasting models for cereal diseases based on weather data, cultivar resistance and cultivation practices. Here, farmers can put in their own information about their crop and obtain predictions with regard to when and whether it will be necessary to apply fungicides. The service is open and free of cost at www.vipslandbruk.no.

Program & Abstracts

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Prospects for using genomic selection breeding strategies in low-input agriculture T. Asp Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Denmark. The phenotypic variation of many complex traits of agricultural importance is influenced by multiple quantitative trait loci (QTL), their interactions, the environment, and the interaction between QTL and environments. Genome-wide association studies has emerged as a tool to resolve complex trait variation down to the sequence level by exploiting historical and evolutionary recombination events at the population level (Risch and Merikangas, 1996). In genome-wide association studies, a set of unlinked, selectively neutral background markers scaled to achieve genome-wide coverage are employed to broadly characterize the genetic composition of individuals. Due to higher genome density, lower mutation rate, and better amenability to high-throughput detection systems, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers (SNPs) are rapidly becoming the marker of choice for complex trait dissection studies. Traditional plant breeding relies primarily on phenotypic selection for identifying individuals with the highest breeding value, but phenotypic selection has made little progress for some traits due to challenges in measuring phenotypes on large collections of potential new varieties. The use of molecular markers associated with QTL for a trait through marker-assisted selection (MAS) can, however, increase rates of genetic improvement because marker information allows for an increase in selection accuracy, a reduction of generation intervals, or an increase in selection intensity (Soller and Beckmann, 1983). However, current MAS methods are better suited for manipulating a few major genes than many genes with small effects (Dekkers and Hospital, 2002). The application of GS proposed by Meuwissen et al., (2001) to breeding populations using high marker densities is emerging as a solution to both of these deficiencies. GS is a form of MAS that simultaneously estimates all loci, haplotype, or marker effects across the entire genome to calculate Genomic Estimated Breeding Values (GEBVs) (Meuwissen et al., 2001) for potential new varieties or parents of potential new varieties, but who not necessarily yet have phenotypic records. This approach is different from traditional MAS because there is not a defined subset of significant markers used for selection. Instead, GS analyzes jointly all markers on a population attempting to explain the total genetic variance with dense genome-wide marker coverage through summing marker effects from all markers in order to predict the breeding value of individuals (Meuwissen et al., 2001). The challenge in GS is that usually there are many more markers than individuals making it necessary to use advanced statistical models for this task. The central process of GS is the calculation of GEBVs for individuals having only genotypic data using a model that was “trained” from individuals having both phenotypic and genotypic data (Meuwissen et al., 2001). The population of individuals with both phenotypic and genotypic data is known as the “training population” as it is used to estimate model parameters that will subsequently be used to calculate GEBVs of selection candidates (e.g., elite breeding material lines) having only genotypic data. The GEBVs are then used to select the individuals for advancement in the breeding cycle. Therefore, selection of an individual without phenotypic data can be performed by using a model to predict the individual’s breeding value (Meuwissen et al., 2001). Thus, GS provides an accurate assessment of breeding values without having to measure traits on the selection candidates. Furthermore, the information is available not just for a single gene or trait, but for all genes and all traits at the same time, enabling a dramatic increase in the genetic progress for the development of improved varieties in e.g. low-input farming systems. References: Dekkers J.C.M and Hospital F (2002). The use of molecular genetics in improvement of agricultural populations. Nat Rev Genet 3: 22-32. Meuwissen T.H.E, Hayes B.J, Goddard M.E. (2001). Prediction of Total Genetic Value Using Genome-Wide Dense Marker Maps. Genetics 157: 1819-1829. Risch N and Merikangas K (1996). The future of genetic studies of complex human diseases. Science 273: 1516–1517. Soller M and Beckmann JS (1983). Genetic polymorphism in varietal identification and genetic improvement. Theor Appl Genet. 67: 25-33. doi: 10.1007/BF00303917. 12


Pest management for sustainable agriculture in Spain P. Revilla Scientific Researcher. Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) Representative of INIA, Spain Among several agricultural pests in Spain, some are considered as of priorities in terms of economic importance within the national plan. They include insects, such as Ceratitis capitata in citrus, Mollusks such as the apple snail in rice, or weeds like Bromus spp. in winter cereals, as well as bacteria, virus and fungi affecting major crops. Although there is no comprehensive research program including all aspects of integrated pest management, several research groups carry out activities oriented towards a sustainable pest management from different perspectives including plant breeding, biological control and agronomic practices. This work presents three different cases of research focused on sustainable pest management, namely a) natural resistance in Brassica crops (glucosinolates and saponins in brassica crops), b) pest management in fruit trees (psyllid and its natural enemies in pear orchards), and c) breeding for corn borer tolerance; including an analysis of the situation of Bt transgenic maize in Spain, which is a peculiarity in Europe, along with the breeding methods used for releasing tolerant varieties. The SWOT analyses of IPM for sustainable agriculture in Spain shows that the strengths are the abundance of resources for pest management for conventional agriculture, an indepth knowledge of pests management, and the social relevance of sustainable agriculture. The weaknesses consists of few public investments on sustainable agriculture, little efforts on integrated pest management, and limited scientific stimuli for research on sustainable agriculture. The opportunities are social interest on sustainable production, through a progressive reduction of pesticides in the EU, increasing awareness of the scientific community, and increasing pest resistance to active principles. The threats are that agricultural research is not a political priority, budget cut-offs for research, and ineffective pest control with alternative methods compared to conventional ones. Finally, the action plan for IPM and thus for sustainable agriculture in Spain should include capitalizing strengths by applying conventional results to sustainable agriculture, transfer and adaptation of knowledge on conventional methods towards sustainable agriculture, and searching support from the production sector. In order to cope with weaknesses, we can search international support and increase scientific effort on IPM research. We could benefit from opportunities by increasing social awareness on IPM and sustainability, searching new natural sources of pest resistance, and promoting international projects on IPM. Threats can be prevented by focusing on IPM research placed as political priorities, searching international funds, and communicating to society for a change of model towards the sustainability. Fortunately, Europe has a strong network of national research institutions which can address these challenges much better than most of the other regions of the world, including a huge system of plant genetic resources which can be capitalized for searching sources of tolerance to pests for a sustainable agriculture.

Program & Abstracts

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Experience of more than ten years blight research on potato with a cis-genesis approach - final results and communication achievements P. M. Boonekamp Wageningen UR, Plant Research International, Business Unit ‘Biointeractions & Plant Health’, The Netherlands More resilient production systems based on full exploitation of all the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) might avoid unexpected and severe losses of yield. The development of IPM is already a mandatory part of the National Action Plans, to comply to the new EU-directive. A more advanced IPM, making use of resistance in plants combined to advanced monitoring of pathogens might support resilient production systems. A first step in this regard is being developed for potato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans in the Netherlands. In 2002 a large public-private ‘Umbrella Plan Phytophthora’ started to develop tools for a modern crop protection strategy for potato late blight, based on the development of a Decision Support System (DSS): early monitoring of the presence of a pathogen and monitoring of crop and weather conditions. When there is a sufficient high risk probability of epidemic development, the DSS gives an advice to farmers to take appropriate measures to avoid damaging infections, in general a spray with pesticides. When using DSS a farmer will only spray when there is a realistic infection probability, leading in general to a decrease in unnecessary pesticide-treatments during the growing season. The Umbrella Plan research on epidemiology and population biology of Phytophthora, and infection routes in leaves and tubers has indeed fine-tuned the current DSS , leading to a large reductions of negative impacts of fungicides to the environment, but not to a reduction of spraying. Therefore the potato production remained very dependent on the application of fungicides. In 2006 another research program started on Durable Resistance against Phytophthora (DuRPh). In the past introgression of single resistance genes from wild species in the culture potato was never successful as resistant potato cultivars stimulated selection of Phyophthora genotypes able to overcome (‘break’) the host resistance. Therefore the approach in the DuRPh program is to stack more resistance genes in one cultivar by genetic modification in a temporal and spatial dynamic way, leading to a field of an agronomically uniform potato crop, but with a mosaic of potato clones harboring different resistance genes. As these R-genes are derived from wild potato species which in principle can be crossed with the culture potato, we call this genetic modification approach cis-genesis. The rationale for this multiple resistance approach is that it will be harder for Phytophthora to ‘break’ multiple than single resistance. Indeed it was found that stacking of 3 different R-genes in one commercial variety of potato (Desiré) gives complete resistance during the whole growth season, while Desiré with no or just one R-gene was highly infected if not protected by regular sprayings with fungicides. However we could model that even multiple resistance in one cultivar is not durable over the seasons, as this approach cannot prevent that eventually Phytophthora genotypes are selected under field conditions which are able to break all deployed resistance genes in the potato field. Therefore concurrent to the DuRPh approach we developed new assays to monitor if new Phytopthora genotypes have occurred within the Phytophthora field population that are able to break the deployed resistance genes. These versatile molecular assays can be integrated in an Advanced DSS. The idea is that if the cis-genic multi-resistant potato is cultured on a large scale, and if the current DSS would give an advise to farmers to spray as infection conditions are high, but if the Advanced DSS shows that no ‘breakers’ are present in the Phytophthora population, the farmer gets an additional advise not to spray yet. In field experiments we showed that the Advanced DSS in combination with deployment of multiple plant resistance genes will be a very sustainable tandem to support a resilient production system, and to decrease the use of pesticides to one spray per season compared to approx. 15 sprays with the current DSS. Moreover this approach will preserve the limited plant resistance genes available to date and it is also very sustainable for resistance management. The only obstacle for introducing this sustainable approach in practice is that cis-genesis is still labelled as genetic modification, NGO’s in Europe are successful in blocking this on behalf of consumer’s perspective, leading to a strong reluctance of the potato production chain to include cisgenesis. To show the scientific facts from our research 10% of the budget of the DuRPh project was 14


allocated each year for open communication with stakeholders, (breeders, growers, trade), policy makers, NGO’s, retailers and consumers. We organized field visits on a regular basis where everybody was invited to see the results of Phytophthora infestations on no-resistant and multiple resistant Desiré potato’s, mostly combined with a debate, preferably chaired by a NGO. In addition DuRPh was highly covered by radio and TV, used as THE example in many public debates on sustainability and genetic modification, but also for example by projects of school children making filmed interviews of supermarket customers about cis-genesis and sustainability. The overall result of the communication strategy was that the press gradually focused more on the aims and the results of DuRPh, than on the fact that genetic modification/cis-genesis had been used. The project however, has now ended and it is still a long way to go for general acceptance of these technologies in Europe, and therefore to implement a sustainable solution to prevent losses due to blight. An overview of the results can be found in: Durable Late Blight Resistance in Potato Through Dynamic Varieties Obtained by Cisgenesis: Scientific and Societal Advances in the DuRPh Project. Haverkort A.J., Boonekamp P.M., Hutten R., Jacobsen E., Lotz L.A.P., Kessel G.J.T., Vossen J.H., and Visser R.G.F. (2016). Potato Research 59, 1, pp 35 – 66

Program & Abstracts

15

PLENARY SESSION: BREEDING RESEARCH FOR IPM DONE IN RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND UNIVERSITIES OF POLAND Search for resistant germplasm to major pathogens in potato E. Zimnoch-Guzowska Plant Breeding and Acclimatization Institute - National Research Institute – Młochów Research Center, 05-832 Młochów, Poland. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the fourth most important staple crop after rice, wheat and maize. As a vegetatively propagated crop, it is more subjected to diseases due to pathogen infection during vegetative season, and due to transmission of diseases to the next generation via infected seed tubers. One of the efficient and environmentally-friendly way to reduce potato crop losses is breeding for resistant cultivars to pathogens and pests. The latest taxonomic classification of potato based on microsatellite markers and plastid DNA deletion markers has recognized about 100 wild and 4 cultivated species (Ovchinnikova et al. 2011). The cultivated species of potato have a relatively narrow eco-geographical origin. Modern potato cultivars bred in Europe, following the late blight pandemic in 1845-1850, have Chilean germplasm adapted to a long day-length conditions and they are based on a narrow genetic background. The enrichment of the cultivated gene pool during the 20 th century has focused on the utilization by breeders of a part of available biodiversity of wild and cultivated species (Bradshaw et al. 2006). More than 11,800 accessions listed in the Intergenebank Potato Database were collected by the seven largest potato collection centers (Huaman et al. 2000). Recent development of molecular technologies creates possibilities for a wider use of genetic resources in breeding new cultivars. The potato breeding became a dynamically modified process through the application of advanced molecular tools simplifying selection process and the choice of parents. Marker Assisted Selection became an efficient approach for the selection of traits governed by major QTL genes with significant effects. The program focused on developing the multi-resistant parental lines initiated at the Młochów Research Center, IHAR in early 1960s and it aimed at pre-breeding of the parental lines with multiple resistances to viruses, late blight and soft rot (Świeżyński 1987). Development of parental lines was initiated with an idea to increase breeding efficiency of new cultivars with improved quality traits along with resistance to main potato pathogens and pests. Parental lines were donors of traits of interest, having the genetic background enriched with genes originated from various Solanum species. In the 5-year cycle of pre-breeding, potato lines have been selected for desired resistances and agronomic traits. The significant outcome of the program has resulted in over 60 registered cultivars by Polish breeders, most of them resistant to late blight, PVY and other viruses (Zimnoch-Guzowska et al., 2013). Along with the pre-breeding program research was conducted on genetic characterization of applied sources of resistance to Phytophthora infestans, major potato viruses (PVY, PVM, PLRV and PVS) or resistance to potato soft rot. The mode of inheritance of resistance of interest, mapping of genes or QTL involved, and finally selection of molecular markers associated with the resistance traits have been studied in the recent two decades. For resistance to P. infestans, in addition to Solanum demissum sources, diploid potato species such as Solanum ruiz-ceballosi, S. x michoacanum and diploid interspecific hybrids originated from S. microdontum, S. verrucosum and S. phureja were explored. For virus, resistance wild species or hybrids were utilized and studied including S. stoloniferum and S. tuberosum for PVY, S. acaule for PVS, S. megistacrolobum and S. gourlay for PVM, and S. tuberosum and S. chacoense for PLRV. Resistance to soft rot was studied in hybrids originated from S. chacoense and S. yungasense or S. phureja. Some achievements of the pre-breeding and the breeding research focused on resistance to economically important potato pathogens and their influence on cultivar’s breeding will be discussed.

16


References: Bradshaw J.E., Bryan G.J., Ramsay G. (2006), Genetic resources (including wild and cultivated Solanum species) and progress in their utilization in potato breeding. Potato Res 49: 49-65. Huaman Z., Hoekstra R., Bamberg J.B. (2000), The inter-genebank potato database and the dimensions of available wild potato germplasm. Am J Potato Res 77: 353–362. Ovchinnikova A., Krylova E., Gavrilenko T., Smekalova T., Zhuk M., Knapp S., Spooner D.M. (2011), Taxonomy of cultivated potato (Solanum section Petota: Solanaceae). Bot J Linn Soc 165: 107-155. Świeżyński K.M. (1987), Potato breeding strategy in Poland. In: The production on new potato varieties. Jellis G.J., Richardson D.E. (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 55-59. Zimnoch-Guzowska E., Yin Z., Chrzanowska M., Flis B. (2013), Sources and Effectiveness of Potato Resistance in IHAR’s Breeding Research. Am J Potato Res 90: 21-27.

Program & Abstracts

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National Action Plan (NAP) to reduce the risks arising from the use of plant protection products D. Sosnowska, J. Danielewicz Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute ul. Władysława Węgorka 20, 60-318 Poznań, Poland In accordance with Article 4 of Directive 2009/128/EC, all Member States of the European Union are required to adopt the national action plans to mitigate the risks arising from the use of plant protection products. These plans had set quantitative targets for reducing the risks associated with the use of plant protection products, the measures to achieve these targets and calendars for their implementation. The European Union legislation however provides flexibility on the application of plant protection products, leaving considerable autonomy to individual Member States. The National Action Plans of the Member States also describe how EU Members will implement the provisions of Articles 5-15 of Directive 2009/128/EC, concerning, in particular, establishment of training a system for professional users of plant protection products, awareness raising among the general public about risks arising from the use of plant protection products, ensuring the supervision over the technical condition of equipment intended for the application of plant protection products, protection of the aquatic environment and drinking water against contamination by plant protection products, implementation of the principles of integrated pest management (IPM), and monitoring the risks associated with the use of plant protection products. To meet the abovementioned objectives, IPM was promoted, and actions were implemented aiming at dissemination of knowledge on safe use of plant protection products. These activities were focused on development of consulting services within the scope of plant protection thereby providing farmers with access to necessary tools to implement the principles of IPM. Trainings for advisors were organized with a series of free training courses. By the end of 2015, over 70 best management practices were listed and posted on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Vegetables, fruit crops and edible mushrooms as well as forestry were the main focus. In Poland, the use of decision support systems is spreading rapidly via the development of a network of meteorological stations and a network of spore traps (Burkard type). It is especially applied in the Wielkopolska Region (central part of Poland). The Institute of Plant Protection National Research Institute, as well as the Main Inspectorate of Plant Health and Seed Inspection are involved in monitoring of oilseed rape and cereal pests.

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Breeding for resistance to biotic stresses of vegetable crops E. U. Kozik Department of Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Horticulture, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, Poland One of the main research themes of the Genetics and Breeding Unit, Research Institute of Horticulture (InHort, Skierniewice), is breeding for resistance against economically important vegetable pathogens. Initially, this breeding program has mainly focused on improvement of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), because of their economic importance. Subsequently, other economically and nutritionally important crops such as Brassica vegetables and carrot were also considered. Activities at our research unit cover both fundamental (exploratory and methodological) and applied research (breeding). The main objectives of our resistance breeding programs are: (i) characterization of pathogens present in our collections, (ii) search for source of a given resistance trait, (iii) development of reliable resistance testing methods, (iv) identification of new resistance genes, (v) development of DNA markers associated with disease resistance genes, (vi) introduction of the desired resistance traits into high-yielding lines of superior quality, and development of cultivars and F 1 hybrids. Fundamental research at our unit focuses on two pathosystems: cucumber-Pseudoperonospora cubensis and tomato-Phytophthora infestans. Severe epidemic levels of P. cubensis (the causal agent of downy mildew of cucurbits) on cucumber observed in Poland in 1985 led to intensive breeding works at InHort to develop resistant hybrid cultivars. All currently registered and commonly grown cucumber hybrids in Poland express high levels of resistance to P. cubensis. A high pathogen diversity observed recently called for search of new resistance sources. In co-operation with the NCSU, Raleigh, USA, we identified cucumber lines with higher levels of resistance to P. cubensis compared to the currently used materials in breeding. Lack of tomato cultivars resistant to P. infestans (the most severe tomato pathogen in Poland) encouraged to start research in 2008 leading to new sources with high and durable resistance to P. infestans. For both pathosystems we completed the trait inheritance analyses and identified resistance sources thereby also evidencing its polygenic character (background). The ongoing work aims to introduce the resistance traits from several new sources into the tomato/cucumber breeding materials taking into account desirable characteristics. We also continue the inheritance analyses of the remaining resistance sources, and analyze the cellular, biochemical, and molecular background of resistance in cucumber and tomato plants for the two pathosystems. Resulting from the pathogen population monitoring, we collected ca. 280 isolates of both pathogens, currently being phenotyped and genotyped. In recent years, several resistance sources have been identified against the most important pathogens of Brassica vegetables such as Plasmodiophora brassicae and Alternaria brassicicola through screenings of a broad collection of plant materials. A similar approach is being used to find sources of resistance against Xanthomonads causing tomato diseases. Applied research in vegetable resistance breeding is conducted mainly on tomato (under protected and field conditions) and field cucumber. In tomato, the focuse is on Tomato Mosaic Virus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici, and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. Likewise, in cucumber: the focus is on Cucumber Mosaic Virus, Cladosporium cucumerinum, and Pseudomonas lachrymans. In addition, detection methods for identification of resistance genes to tomato pathogens have been developed.

Program & Abstracts

19

Breeding for resistance to diseases and pests of fruit crops at the Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland E. Żurawicz, M.Korbin Research Institute of Horticulture, ul. Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, Poland Poland is an important producer of fruits especially apples, sour and sweet cherries, raspberries, black currants, highbush blueberries, aronia, gooseberries and strawberries. For maintaining high profitability and competitiveness of fruit production, growers are continuously seeking new cultivars, especially those with a good level of resistance and/or tolerance to the economically important pests. Introduction of such cultivars into cropping systems is mainly related to the withdrawal of many effective pesticides from the market and to increasing requirements concerning the environmental preservation. In Poland, the largest center of breeding of new fruit cultivars (apple, plum, sour cherry, apricot, peach, black currant, gooseberry, raspberry, Saskatoon berry, strawberry and the dwarfing rootstocks for the apple trees), is the Research Institute of Horticulture in Skierniewice, and in particular the Department of Horticultural Crop Breeding, which deals with breeding for resistance to pests and diseases. The basic breeding method used is the traditional cross-breeding relying on crosses between selected parental lines and selection among the progeny of obtained seedlings of F1 generation. Traditional searching of proper parental lines and resistant progeny is supported with deep dissection conducted using molecular and biotechnological tools (MAS, HTS, genetic mapping, in vitro-based techniques). In case of apple, the seedlings are being artificially inoculated with the spores of the fungus causing apple scab (Venturia inequalis). Assessment of the degree of the field resistance of selected individuals/clones to different pathogens/pests is conducted through the field trials. Majority of cultivars introduced into the commercial cultivation in Poland possess an increased resistance/low susceptibility to diseases and pests. Among the apple cultivars fully resistant to apple scab are 'Gold Milennium', 'Melfree' and 'Free Redstar'. The latter is also least susceptible to fire blight (caused by Erwinia amylovora), a severe bacterial disease of apple trees. The fully resistant cultivars of blackcurrant to gooseberry mildew (Sphaerotheca mors-uvae) are 'Ruben', 'Tisel', 'Tiben', ‘Gofert’, 'Ores', 'Polares', 'Polben' and ‘Polonus’. The last three cultivars are also genetically resistant to gall mite (Cecidophyopsis ribis), the most economically important pest of blackcurrant. Fully resistant gooseberry cultivars to gooseberry mildew are also 'Resika' and 'Hinsel'. Likewise, fully resistant/less susceptible strawberry cultivars to Verticillium wilt (Verticillim albo-atrum), a serious disease of the root system, are 'Dukat' and 'Elkat'. Cultivar ‘Elkat’ is also tolerant to strawberry root weevil (Otiorrhynchus ovatus), which feeds on strawberry roots severely damaging strawberry plants. Keywords: parental forms, hybridization, selection, molecular breeding, fruit cultivars.

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Breeding for resistance to insects Z. T. Dąbrowski Section of Applied Entomology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159 str., 02-776 Warszawa, Poland The studies on the basic behavioral and physiological relations between host plants and the twospotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) were initiated at the Department of Entomology in the early 1970’s as continuation of a project on strawberry resistance to spider mites carried out by Z. T. Dąbrowski under leadership of Prof. Dr J. G. Rodriguez at the University of Kentucky (1969-1970). A number of published review papers (and text books), mainly based on the U.S. authors, as well as original publications on differences in plant cultivars’ susceptibility to pest infestation and the emerging need to develop an alternative to crop protection methods mainly based on conventional pesticides has generated interest of other Polish scientists. The first step involved screening of available germplasm for resistance to the most harmful pest species occurring at the time including spider mites on apples and strawberries and carrot rust fly on carrot. Screening for resistance of cereal species to aphids and sugar beet to major insect pests followed over the years. Such initiatives mainly focused on the basic behavioral, biochemical and physiological mechanisms determining plant susceptibility or resistance to a pest species. The increased number of field evidence on breaking monogenic insect resistance in a number of crops focused our attention on factors responsible for a moderate level of resistance. This issue recognized as an important part of IPM was generally accepted during the1980’s. The biochemists of the Siedlce College (actually Life Sciences and Humanities University), who used the germplasm collection from Radzików, identified a number of secondary metabolites in cereals, responsible for plant resistance to aphids. Parallel to the above mentioned studies, intensive work was started in the second part of the 1970’s on the plant physiological responses to pests, later expanded to biochemical mechanisms affecting plant defense response to the pest attack and induced resistance. These early achievements were recognized by other European scientists by inviting three Polish representatives to the first meeting of the EUCARIA/IOBC working group “Breeding for resistance to insects and mites” (Wageningen, 7-9.12.1976). It is worth to mention the optimistic prognosis included in prof. C. Dorsman’ opening remarks as: “I feel that now we stand at the beginning of a fascinating new era in plant breeding in which breeders and entomologists work closely together. In a large number of crops it has been proved how effectively resistance may control diseases. Some famous examples, mainly in the U.S., prove that pest resistance opens up the same prospects. Breeding for pest resistance is by its complexity an intriguing challenge to the scientists”. An increased number of Polish scientists working on mechanisms of plant resistance to pests took part in the EUCARPIA meetings. However, the practical results in releasing resistant crop cultivars to insects are far from the initial expectations. Firstly the agricultural research policy of the liberal governments has been changed by shifting the crop breeding activities to private breeding and seed companies. The majority of the participants of the 1976 Wageningen meeting have changed their profession or suffered from the lack of adequate funding. And as Prof. C. Dorsman had foreseen, many problems would confront the insect resistance breeding program. Based on the author’s experience in screening and breeding for pest resistance in Poland and Africa (ICIPE, IITA), the following constrains hampered the development of crop resistant cultivars: i. Breeding priorities of private enterprises which are led by a market scale and restricted only to major field crops; ii. lack of development of other alternative, pro-ecological methods of the critical pests on tomato, cucumber, strawberry, apples, carrot; iii. Logistic problems related to interdisciplinary research involving entomologists with breeders. The six years effort of four breeders, a plant pathologists and an entomologist (rearing millions of viruliferous Cicadulina leafhoppers for Maize Streak Virus resistance screening) may serve as the successful example of developing maize populations adopted to various climatic zones in Africa. But 6 years has included 18 cycles (e.g. 18 years in Europe) of crosses and selection; iv. Failure to develop tropical maize resistant cultivars to stem borers using classical breeding methods at CIMMYT, ICIPE, IITA; Program & Abstracts 21

v.

High cost of traditional breeding methods under artificial infestation of each plant for maize resistance to European corn borer (ECB) in the U.S.A. in the last 20 years with only minor success on releasing a sweet corn donor population to the first generation of ECB; vi. Commonly observed plant resistance breakdown cases due to reliance on monogenic resistance in a number of crops; vii. Absence of demonstration of global suitability of genetically modified crops with resistance to major field crops opening new possibilities in insect resistance breeding, and It is presently expected to apply the available knowledge on biochemical and physiological mechanisms and explore the role of the secondary plant metabolites in plant resistance to insects by using novel plant bre

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PLENARY SESSION: FOLLOW-UP: NEW AND WELL-DOCUMENTED TECHNOLOGIES AND PLANT TRAITS THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR IPM New Breeding technologies to support Integrated Pest Management C. van de Wiel, J. G. Schaart, M. J.M. Smulders Wageningen UR Plant Breeding, P.O. Box 386, NL-6700 AJ WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands New plant breeding techniques (NPBT) comprise a heterogeneous array of techniques and concepts. They share a complex status with regard to the extent to which their outcomes may be considered a genetically modified (GM) plant. The following broad categories may be mentioned with regard to Integrated Pest Management (IPM): 

Targeted mutagenesis methods, usually called genome editing, including oligo-directed mutagenesis (ODM) and methods employing various sequence-specific nucleases (SSNs), of which CRISPR-Cas9 recently has become the most commonly implemented. All these methods can introduce mutations at specified sites in the genome, e.g. in genes or their promoters.  Use of transgenic lines during the breeding process without the transgene becoming part of the final plant product, for increasing the speed and efficiency of breeding. In the example of “early flowering”, flowering in perennial crops can be induced at an early stage by overexpression of an exogenous gene such as FT1, and in this way generation times in crossing schemes can be strongly reduced. The transgene is selected against in the final crossings leading to the plant end product.  Cisgenesis encompasses transformation of plants with genes from cross-compatible species; the genes are introduced in their “native” state, i.e. including their own promoters. Cisgenesis is especially useful in clonally replicated, outcrossing plants, such as fruit trees, as it can introduce genes more quickly than by crossing and it can improve existing varieties.  In addition, there are several variants using grafted plants (e.g. a conventional scion on a transgenic rootstock). Genome editing can be used to efficiently knock out genes targeted by pathogens to infect plants, often called (disease) susceptibility genes (S genes). This knock-out may lead to durable resistance, as is shown by e.g. naturally occurring mutations in the MLO gene leading to powdery mildew resistance. Cisgenesis enables stacking resistance genes (R genes) to render it difficult for the pathogen to overcome resistance as often happens with single R genes (see the presentation by Piet Boonekamp). This stacking could also be performed by a special variant of genome editing, using homologous recombination (HR) as this enables the insertion of sequences (genes) at double DNA strand breaks induced at a specific location by an SSN. This would even make it possible to exchange existing (ineffective) alleles in R gene clusters for a desirable one. Early flowering diminishes significantly the time needed to stack resistance genes by conventional crossing in perennial woody crops, such as apple. A transgenic rootstock can provide resistance to soil-borne diseases, while products harvested form the scion do not contain the transgene. Examples using these techniques from our research and from literature will be discussed for their relevance to IPM.

Program & Abstracts

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Molecular mechanisms underlying induced cereal resistance to aphids B. Leszczyński, C. Sempruch, G. Chrzanowski, H. Sytykiewicz, P. Czerniewicz University of Life Sciences and Humanities, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, B. Prusa 12 Str., PL-08110 Siedlce, Poland During the last decades many studies were performed on cereal resistance to aphids across Europe. However the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still not completely understood. This work reports on three aspects involved in induced cereal resistance to aphids; role of phenolic compounds, polyamines and oxidative stress. The aphid infested resistant cultivars produced a higher level of phenolic compounds via ammonia lyases (PAL/TAL) and chalcone synthase (CHS) pathways. A higher level of salicylic, chlorogenic, caffeic and o- and p-coumaric acids was observed, as well as elevated accumulation of apigenin, quercetin, (-)-epicatechin and luteolin within tissues of resistant cultivars. In addition, quercetin and (-)-epicatechin scavenging role of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) was proved. The cereal cultivars exposed to Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) or Sitobion avenae (F.) herbivory responded with an increased levels of superoxide anion radicals (O 2•-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Overall, this reaction was related with the degree of host resistance to infestations by aphids. Three genes encoding NADPH oxidase (i.e., rbohA, rbohB and rbohD) were found to be involved in prooxidative responses of aphid-infested cereal plants. Higher expression levels of rboh genes occurred within tissues of more resistant genotypes compared with those of the susceptible ones. The survey also unveiled a substantial role played by cat1 and cat2 genes (encoding catalase isozymes: CAT-1 and CAT-2, respectively) in combating aphid-stimulated imbalance in redox homeostasis in the infested cereal plants. Importantly, dissimilar expression profiles of cat1 and cat2 genes in seedlings of more resistant and susceptible cereal genotypes were identified. Biochemical responses were triggered by host in responses to the infestation by aphids through productions of aliphatic polyamines and aromatic monoamines. While R. padi feeding led to an accumulation of the amines within tissues of more resistant triticale cvs. No such accumulations of these amines were observed in susceptible cultivars. Such a response was related to a regulation of the activity of key enzymes involved in amine biosynthesis including lysine decarboxylase (LDC), ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and tyrosine decarboxylase (TyDC).

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Breeding for insect resistance for organic and conventional farming systems O. Scholten, R. Voorrips, K. Burger, P. F. de Jong, B. Vosman Wageningen UR Plant Breeding, P.O. Box 386, NL-6700 AJ WAGENINGEN, The Netherlands Nowadays, agricultural research in the Netherlands is almost always funded in the form of public-private partnerships (PPP). While the public partners are the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the research institutes or universities, the private partners vary from small and medium enterprises to large industries. The PPP ‘Better Plants for New Demands’ consists of a broad variety of research projects dealing with Plant breeding research. In 2015, 51 research projects were carried out in which 90 different companies were involved. Part of the PPP “Better Plants for New Demands” is the research programme that is called Green Breeding. In this research programme, plant breeding research is carried out with the aim to obtain results that can be used in both organic and conventional farming systems. Research questions were formulated by organic farmers. Currently, we are working on the following research projects: 1) potato breeding for organic farming, with special emphasis on Phytophthora resistance, 2) resistance to thrips in leek, 3) aphid resistance in pepper, 4) resistance to damping-off in spinach, 5) development of resistance screening assays for apple to aphids, scab and canker. Three projects are dealing with breeding for resistance to insects and will be discussed in more detail: 1.

2.

3.

Thrips (Thrips tabaci) resistance in leek: various resistance assays were developed for the identification of sources of resistance: field trials, individual plant tests and in vitro assays using leaf parts. Field trials are valuable for a first screening on resistance, but may also lead to escapes. In vitro assays are important to determine underlying mechanisms of resistance (for example, no development of larvae in the leaves). Host resistance was in observed in leek. Aphid (Myzus persicae) resistance in pepper: While aphids can cause direct damages which consist of malformation of leaves, flowers and fruits, the main problems are represented by indirect damages caused by virus transmission. Sources of resistance have been identified and are now being used for the development of materials for genetic studies. Development of a screening method to test for resistance to the aphid Eriosoma lanigerum. These aphids feed by sucking plant sap from the wood. Once tests have been developed, materials will be screened for resistance and used in breeding programmes.

Program & Abstracts

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PLENARY SESSION: COMBINING BREEDING MATERIAL WITH CULTIVATION PRACTICES FOR AN IMPROVED INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

Barley breeding in Nordic countries: effects on nitrogen use efficiency, disease resistance traits and genetic diversity M. Jalli, A. Rajala, T. Tenhola-Roininen, P. Peltonen-Sainio Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), FI-31600 Jokioinen, FINLAND, Nitrogen is one of the key elements determining crop growth and yield. Nitrogen is a relatively expensive input produced through an energy-intensive industrial process. Production and use of N fertilizers cause high environmental footprint. Thus, there is a need to improve N use efficiency in agricultural systems through breeding and crop management. On the other hand, stresses, especially plant diseases, reduce grain yields with an average 16 % yield reductions worldwide despite commonly applied crop protection practices in food production chain. During the past forty years, the total barley area in Finland has increased by 50 % leading to short crop rotations or monocultures in many farms. At the same time, traditional ploughing has been replaced by reduced and no-tillage systems, thereby enhancing the risks related to seed- and stubble-borne pathogens. Breeding for resistance is an economical and environmentally friendly approach to control plant diseases. Focus on increased plant genetic diversity is a need while targeting to breed for higher yields, increased N use efficiency and disease resistance. On the other hand, genetic diversity of European barley has been decreased due to bottlenecks and strict selection methods applied during a century of breeding. This work aims to evaluate the effect of breeding on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), its components and agronomic traits and disease resistance in barley by using extensive germplasm covering 72 landraces and 123 cultivars released since 1916. Field trials were established at the experimental farm of Natural Resources Institute Finland in Jokioinen, situated in southern part of the country. The germplasm collection was genotyped with 1536 SNP markers and phenotyped in a two-year field experiment during 2011‒2012. SNP data was used to evaluate the effect of barley breeding on genetic diversity. The results revealed a clear positive effect of breeding on NUE in barley cultivars. Breeding also allowed to an increased grain yield and traits related to yield, like grain number, grain weight and harvest index. NUE and utilization were positively correlated with grain yield and negatively correlated with stem length. A significant improvement in the net blotch resistance level was found in the European barley cultivars released during the last 40 years. The frequency of resistant genotypes to net blotch was highest among the European barley cultivars and Syrian landraces. No reduction in genetic diversity of the European barley material was recorded.

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Assessment of wheat cultivar resistance to orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) using a phenotyping method under controlled conditions and its implication for IPM S. Chavalle1, G. Jacquemin2, M. De Proft1, J.-P. Jansen1 1

Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Life Sciences Department, Plant Protection and Ecotoxicology Unit, Chemin de Liroux 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgique 2

Walloon Agricultural Research Centre, Production and Sectors Department, Crop Production Systems Unit, Rue du Bordia 4, 5030 Gembloux, Belgique

The orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin), can significantly reduce wheat yield. The adoption of resistant wheat cultivars is probably the key factor to avoid an intensive insecticide use. The resistance assessment performed under field trials can fail and lead to false positive results because of the heterogeneous exposure to the insects due to the high variation in the heading date of various wheat cultivars and the pest flight activity. To avoid these biases, an assessment method in controlled conditions was developed, including the mass production and inundative releases of the pest for a permanent and homogeneous exposition of the wheat cultivar. In 2015, this method was routinely used to assess the resistance of 64 out of the most important commercial wheat cultivars available to date in Belgium. Seventeen out of 64 cultivars were rated as resistant, offering to the farmers a large set of resistant wheat cultivars adapted to the local agricultural conditions. The information on these resistances was communicated to the farmers using a decision support system and dissemination network for cereals. Specifically, a public list of available resistant cultivars was edited and is updated on a regular basis. Since 2011, several hundred of wheat lines (those in development, parental lines for breeding, conservative stock of resistance genes, etc.) have also been assessed by the industry which will help to increase the potential number of resistant wheat cultivars to the orange wheat blossom midge available for growers in the future. A similar screening method can be practiced using specific genetic populations of midge, focusing mainly on new resistance mechanisms. This will help to look for alternative sources of resistance in case the currently used Sm1 gene should undergo to problems related to resistance breakdown by the pest.

Program & Abstracts

27

The challenges in breeding for disease resistance arising from dynamic pathogen populations T. Thach C. K. Sørensen, and M. S. Hovmøller Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Flakkebjerg, DK-4200 Slagelse, Denmark Yellow rust caused by the biotrophic fungus Puccinia striiformis is one of the major diseases of wheat in Europe and worldwide. The use of resistant wheat varieties and access to fungicides are the most efficient methods to prevent and manage rust epidemics. A fundamental challenge for disease control and breeding for resistance to rusts is the dynamic nature of the fungi, including long distance spore dispersal combined with the huge capacity of asexual reproduction within the crop season. In terms of plant breeding, the main challenge is to find resistance which is effective against existing and new emerging races, thereby remaining durable over space and time. Changes are mainly observed for crop varieties where the resistance is race-specific, but incursion of exotic races from distant areas may also change the situation for resistance, which is expressed quantitatively. Pathogen surveillance has traditionally been done at the national level, but recent events where, e.g., the yellow rust population all over Europe has largely been replaced from one cropping season to the next, demonstrate the need for coordinated European efforts. The Global Rust Reference Center (GRRC) has in recent years received samples of yellow rust infected wheat from many European countries, followed by race phenotyping and Simple Sequence Repeat genotyping of purified isolates. The results have revealed that the current (2016) yellow rust population is fundamentally different from the one observed in 2010 and before. The changes was not only a matter about new ‘virulences’ since the new races were characterized by different epidemiological features such as high telia spore production and probably a wider host range. Comparisons based on current and historical, world-wide collections of yellow rust isolates suggested that new races like ‘Warrior’ and ’Kranich’ had an origin from ‘centre of diversity’ of yellow rust in the near-Himalayan region of Asia (Hovmøller et al., 2016). Molecular analyses showed that the new races belonged to a genetically very different population compared to the pre-2011 population in Europe. All these factors have had a large impact on the wheat varieties grown in Europe, i.e., previously resistant varieties becoming susceptible or partly susceptible, and previously susceptible varieties becoming less susceptible. To accommodate challenges from dynamic pathogen populations a new Danish public-private partnership (‘MULTIRES’) was initiated in 2015 with the objective to develop new, multi-race and multi-pathogen resistant crop varieties. The development of efficient and cost-effective tools for disease resistance phenotyping at isolate, race and pathogen species levels is also part of the project. Some of the major diseases of wheat in Europe, i.e., yellow rust, brown rust and stem rust, septoria leaf blotch, fusarium head blight, tan spot and powdery mildew are targeted in the project. The phenotyping tools include histological methods to assess resistance to Puccinia spp., toxin-based assays for Pyrenophora tritici-repentis and Parastagonospora nodorum, and genetic markers for resistance to efficient screening of breeding materials. The MULTIRES collaboration consists of a Danish breeding company, Nordic Seed A/S, Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Curtin University (Australia), USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory at University of Minnesota (USA), French National Institute for Agricultural Research (France), and University of Kassel (Germany). Breeding for varieties with resistance to multiple diseases is in line with IPM strategies and should also be suitable for low-input agricultural systems where e.g. chemical disease control is restricted. Other IPM strategies to control rust diseases on wheat and triticale have been investigated in recent years. Trials were initiated in autumn 2014 with the objective to investigate effects of different nitrogen fertilization levels, plant spacing and variety on the severity of yellow rust in organic winter wheat and winter triticale. Initial results have shown minor but significant effects of nitrogen input with highest disease severity observed for triticale receiving the highest input of nitrogen (140kg/ha). Furthermore, high plant density (400/m2) of the triticale was positively correlated with disease severity although depending on variety. The second year trial is currently in progress and will provide further results on the effect of cultural practices on rust epidemiology. So far, the overall effects of agricultural practices, however, were much less important than the impact of host resistance on rust disease management. 28


Because the rapid pathogen changes occur over large spatial scales, effective and rapid communication and information exchanges with the stakeholders are essential. The EuroWheat platform (Jørgensen et al., 2014) and the Wheat Rust Toolbox (Hansen & Lassen, 2013) are examples of database -driven communication hosted by Aarhus University. The same underlying system is also used for wheat rust monitoring at the global level via the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative, and new modules addressing different crop/disease problems are in progress. References Hansen, J.G. & Lassen, P., 2013. Managing global crop disease data. In: Proceedings of the EFITAWCCA-CIGR Conference: Sustainable Agriculture through ICT Innovation, 2013. Turin, Italy: EFITAWCCA-CIGR. [www.cigr.org/Proceedings/uploads/2013/0302.pdf]. Accessed 1 July 2015. Hovmøller et al., 2016. Replacement of the European wheat yellow rust population by new races from the centre of diversity in the near-Himalayan region. Plant Pathology, 65: 402-411. Jørgensen et al., 2014. IPM strategies and their dilemmas including an introduction to www.eurowheat.org. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 13: 265-281.

Program & Abstracts

29

New challenges for breeding varieties adapted to mixed cropping systems J. Enjalbert1, J. Borg1, E. Forst1, A. Gauffreteau2, I. Goldringer1 1

INRA UMR Génétique Quantitative et Evolution le Moulon, INRA-CNRS-AgroParisTechUniversité Paris-Saclay- 91190 - Gif sur Yvette 2

INRA - UMR Agronomie - INRA/AgroParisTech – Bâtiment EGER - 78850 - ThivervalGrignon, France

Following the World War II, wheat yield in Europe has been increasing linearly at an average rate of 100kg/ha/year (Calderini & Slafer 1998). Half of these gains in productivity have been attributed to the improvement of cropping systems, i.e. rationalization and standardization of agronomic practices, with increased mechanization, optimal use of fertilizers and development and application of pesticides. These progresses have resulted in a strong homogenization of the crop environment, reducing apparently both biotic and abiotic stresses. On the other hand, genetic improvement of varieties has been another important lever in yield gains, relying on the progress of breeding methods and the development of the seed sector. Breeders mainly focused to date on the development of crop varieties adapted to these dominant cropping systems, developing highly productive and adapted varieties for a registration/regulation system thereby promoting genetic uniformity (DUS -Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability- of lines or hybrids). Breeding technologies have benefited of various technological improvement, first through the mechanization of precision sowing/harvesting, and then via the integration of biotechnologies, i.e. in vitro culture or use of molecular markers, and recently adoption of high throughput phenotyping methods. However, all these technologies have been integrated under the same uniformity paradigm; i.e. development of the crop genotype performing on the best and dominant cropping system (hence maximizing market success). Such crop genetics and cropping system homogeneity have encountered various limits including yield stagnation (Brisson et al. 2010), recurrent problems related to host resistance breakdowns by pest and pathogens, pests resistance development to pesticides, as well as water and soil pollution or health hazards. To face these challenges and develop a truly sustainable agriculture, diversification of crops at the field scale is one of the key leverage proposed. At the same time, mixed cropping systems raise major questions and challenges for breeders, as they need to: 

Adapt the assessment of varieties: the performance in pure stands has to be replaced by the performance in mixed stands, looking for optimal interaction between two (or more) coplanted species;  Integrate or develop knowledge on plant-to-plant interactions, helpful to design plant ideotypes and trait assembly;  Optimize screening and phenotyping methods, in order to deal with the dimensionality course of species1 x species2 variety combinations;  Adapt the spatial designs of nurseries so that assessed plant interactions reflect to the real conditions occurring in farmers' fields. While mixed cropping system are becoming more and more commonly practiced, no specific cobreeding programs have been developed so far. However, a few studies show the poor performance of elite cultivars in low-input or mixed cropping systems (Murphy et al. 2007) advocating for the development of renewed breeding efforts. Not only the breeding targets should be readjusted, there might also be a need for rethinking genetic structure of varieties since lines or hybrids are not necessarily the best genetic solution to maximize the productivity under mixed cropping systems, as recently suggested (Pietro et al. 2015). Breeding for plant complementarity is a complex task although a meaningful parallel can be made with the hybrid breeding programs in maize. Transposing both theory and practices of such breeding schemes may allow to illustrate how a reciprocal recurrent breeding program can be designed, and how it can be integrated to advanced breeding technologies. This parallel has noticeably been at the origin of the main statistical method proposed to analyze the General and Specific Mixing Ability under variety/species mixtures ( reviewed by Dawson & Goldringer 2012). Efficiency of reciprocal recurrent breeding relies on the potential use of representative testers but it could fail when mixing ability relies mainly on specific interactions between two varieties, rather than general mixing 30


ability between sets of varieties from different species. An alternative to this is to develop models to decipher the link between traits and mixing ability, disentangling the major interactions between species and their causal traits, in order to develop breeding schemes based on trait values or variations in traits (Litrico & Violle 2015). Many theoretical and practical solutions can be proposed and they still need proofs of concepts. Because, such initiatives are resource intensive, as the case of hybrid breeding in maize, such efforts will be worthwhile/profitable only when there is a sufficient market size. This raised another question, as agroecology might be a source of diversification of cropping systems, with farmers adapting techniques and choosing crops for their best adaptation to their “territories” and markets. And this diversification is one of the proposed strategies to reduce pest impacts on crops. In the context of highly diversified landscape, breeding for elite and standard cultivars probably will not fully fit to the needs for local adaptation, and a decentralized breeding and screening framework is certainly a good and complementary option. Based on an ongoing work on participatory design of wheat cultivar mixtures, we illustrate how a decentralized assessment of variety performance, and the combination of elite varieties can be used to fine-tune cultivar traits to local cropping system requirements, and how it can contribute to the genetic component of IPM system. References: Brisson N., Gate P. Gouache D., Charmet G., Oury F.-X., Huard F. (2010) Why are wheat yields stagnating in Europe? A comprehensive data analysis for France. Field Crops Research 119:201–12. Calderini D.F., Slafer G.A. (1998) Changes in yield and yield stability in wheat during the 20th century. Field Crops Research 57:335–47. Campion A.L., Oury F.-X., Morlais J.-Y., Walczak P., Bataillon P., Gardet O., et al. (2014) Is lowinput management system a good selection environment to screen winter wheat genotypes adapted to organic farming? Euphytica 199:41–56. Dawson J.C., Goldringer I. (2012) Breeding for Genetically Diverse Populations: Variety Mixtures and Evolutionary Populations. In: Bueren E.T.L. van, Myers J.R., editors. Organic Crop Breeding. Wiley-Blackwell p. 77–98. Litrico I., Violle C. (2015) Diversity in Plant Breeding: A New Conceptual Framework. Trends in Plant Science 20:604–13. Murphy K.M., Campbell K.G., Lyon S.R., Jones S.S. (2007) Evidence of varietal adaptation to organic farming systems. Field crops research 102:172–177. Prieto I., Violle C., Barre P., Durand J.-L., Ghesquiere M., Litrico I. (2015). Complementary effects of species and genetic diversity on productivity and stability of sown grasslands. Nature Plants 1:15033.

Program & Abstracts

31

Plant-Pathogen(s) interactions in natural environment: How can this knowledge provide novel and durable strategies for breeding and sustainable disease management? V. Decroocq INRA, UMR BFP 1332, Université de Bordeaux, CS20032, 33883 Villenave d’Ornon, France In modern crop production system, most of the fields, including fruit orchards, are planted with single and identical varieties. This allows pests and pathogens to develop rapidly and spread easily from one plant/field to another. By contrast, in natural ecosystems, multiple factors including the genetic diversity of hosts limit the spread of epidemics and pest outbreaks, in a wide range of conditions. Many crop species, including apple and apricot, still exist in natural populations where they share their wild and, native habitats with their cortege of pests and pathogens in a more or less equilibrium. Therefore, a better understanding of the plant/pathogen interactions in those complex and genetically diverse communities is expected to provide useful insights for the development of a “sustainable” agricultural systems. In natural ecosystems, the wild relatives of crops grown today are characterized by high levels of genetic diversity, which underlie an expanded range of adaptive traits, including resistance to pathogens. This functional diversity in disease resistance limits the spread of epidemics but it also yields a wide range of allelic combination through centuries of hybridization and recombination events. Despite their clear potential for crop improvement, wild crop relatives have rarely been used systemically neither full sets of their allelic combination and wild diversity have been considered to date by breeding programs. Genome Wide Association studies performed on panmictic, natural populations would also allow unravelling epistatic and additive effects as well as testing the correlation between resistance (or tolerance) and other adaptive traits. Another benefit of complex, interspecific, stands such as the natural populations of crop wild relatives is the regulation of pests and pathogens by providing a greater diversity of resources for beneficial organisms or by simply providing physical barriers and dilution effects. A variety of factors can reduce the impact of major pests and pathogens, including decreased host plant availability, altered pest dispersion levels by rain, wind and vectors etc. This would particularly be the case for aphidborne viruses for which the succession of host and non-host plants in the close vicinity would thus decrease the probability of acquisition and transmission mediated by insects. Here, we speculate that the host spatial structure and composition in naturally mixed populations determine both the success of establishment of a new pathogen and the impact of already-established pathogen(s). In conclusion, the combined effort of studying the plant/pathogen interactions in their natural habitat could have a threefold benefit which consist of: i) providing valuable breeding material, ii) a comprehensive study of the genetic factors related to variation of the resistance traits, and iii) alternative methods of crop management that would combine the plant genotype, its architecture and its spatial distribution. This work reviews all these benefits by highlighting several documented and ongoing studies, especially in the perennial crop models, apple and apricot.

32


PLENARY SESSION: FOLLOW-UP: COMBINING BREEDING MATERIAL WITH CULTIVATION PRACTICES FOR AN IMPROVED INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

Testing breeding aims in German winter wheat in the field with respect to cropping systems and fungicide strategies B. Klocke JKI, Stahnsdorfer Damm 81, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany In Germany, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) was cultivated on 3.2 million hectares in the year 2014. Most of the German wheat cultivars grown in the country, like Akteur and JB Asano, show good yield and quality components in practice but they are also moderately or highly susceptible to major wheat pathogens. Susceptible cultivars often have higher yields compared to resistant ones but they also rely on higher frequencies of fungicide treatments. In years with higher risks of epidemic development and new pathogen races, the lack of resistance could lead to severe yield losses despite fungicide applications. Therefore, growers have to decide every year about the most suitable cultivar to be grown, considering their local pedo-climatic conditions as well as other economic and ecologic criteria. There is still a lack of knowledge about how to deal with plant diseases and effectively use available decision support tools related to specific resistance traits of cultivars in practice. Regarding fungicide treatment it is difficult for farmers to consider these traits if cultivars are not free of symptoms. This often leads to unnecessary fungicide treatments in cultivars with effective disease resistance. In recent years many German breeding programs focused on the development of resistance against fungal pathogens to reduce reliance on fungicide treatments. However, this breeding strategy has led to lower quality of grains and lower yield increase. Many high-yielding cultivars are more susceptible to fungal diseases and therefore require the use of pesticides for achieving the yield potential. These two conflicting aims require different efforts and input from the breeding perspective. Therefore, there is a need to assess whether the strategy of high input for resistance breeding is economically justified. Because crop health can be improved also by other means such as the use of pesticides, it is unclear if a breeding strategy focusing on yield increase combined with chemical plant protection could be more beneficial. To answer these questions, two cropping system experiments (2015-2018) have been set up at five sites in Germany with different soil types and climatic conditions in order to ensure a broad regional variability. The experiments compare a selection of four highly resistant winter wheat cultivars against the most important cereal diseases namely Septoria leaf blotch (Zymoseptoria tritici), Powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici), Stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) and leaf rust (Puccinia triticina) with four high-yielding cultivars which were selected using national cultivar trials and lists. The cultivars JB Asano, Patras, Julius, Apertus, Capone, Spontan, Attraktion and Dichter are grown in a completely randomized block design with four replications and three different variants (untreated control, situation-related and commonly practiced fungicide treatment). All diseases occurring in the field are scored on different dates and fungicides will be applied if thresholds are exceeded. To date, yellow rust is the dominant fungal disease across all locations. The highly susceptible cultivar JB Asano showed first infections in early April 2016. Septoria leaf blotch also occurred across all sites on the lower leaf levels but no immediate treatments were made. Although most cultivars show an effective resistance against yellow rust, we found differences between the eight cultivars used. Beside JB Asano, the cultivars Capone, Patras, Attraktion and Apertus showed yellow rust infections up to the second leaf (F-1). Therefore, up to two fungicide applications were required depending on the variants. So far, cultivars Dichter and Spontan did not show any yellow rust infection symptoms and they are not treated with fungicides until now because of the low infection probability of Septoria leaf blotch. The overall yield performance, in terms of quantity and quality, of these highly resistant cultivars will be assessed after the harvest and a quality analyses and an overall economical assessment will be made. Program & Abstracts

33

Suggested cereals and Oilseed rape varieties for Integrated Pest Management under Lithuanian conditions R. Semaškienė Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Institute of Agriculture Instituto al. 1, Akademija, LT 58344, Kėdainiai d. Lithuania Integrated pest management (IPM) includes a wide range of pest control strategies. The goal of adopting these strategies is to prevent severe pest attacks and at the same time reduce risks arising from the use of pesticides to human health and the environment. Prevention is a key component of an IPM program and the use of resistant cultivars to pests and diseases is a preventive strategy. The use of pesttolerant and resistant cultivars helps to decrease reliance on pesticides in crops including the arable ones (Barzman et al., 2015). Lithuanian farmers commonly grow a wide range of oilseed rape, winter and spring wheat and spring barely varieties adapted to local conditions from different regions. However, a high frequency of cereals in a crop rotation and increasing practice of reduced tillage have resulted in high pressure of the most important fungal diseases such as tan spot (Pyrenophora tritici repentis), Fusarium head blight (Fusarium spp.), and net blotch (Pyrenophora teres). Septoria leaf blotch, caused by Zymoseptoria tritici, is increasingly perceived as an important disease in winter wheat in recent years. Likewise, stem canker (Leptosphaeria maculans), white mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum), gray leaf spot (Alternaria brassicae), downy mildew (Peronospora parasitica), and verticillium wilt (Verticillium spp.) are the most common diseases in oilseed rape and they have become economically important over the years. Different disease management tools have to be used for reducing crop losses giving priority to environmentally friendly measures and the choice of crop variety is one of the most important tools. Field experiments are ongoing since 2014 a using different winter and spring wheat, spring barley and winter and spring oilseed rape varieties. These varieties are characterized by a wide range of resistance to major diseases and they are available on the national market. The aim of this work is to select the most appropriate varieties with a better performance in terms of yield potential, adaptation to local pedo-climatic conditions and agronomic practices. Preliminary results obtained since 2014 suggest that the spread and/or outbreaks of major diseases can be successfully contained using effective prevention strategies which are being developed. Barzman, M., Bàrberi, P., Birch, A.N.E., Boonekamp P., Dachbrodt-Saaydeh S., Graf B., Hommel B., Jensen J. E., Kiss J., Kudsk P., Lamichhane J. R., Messéan A., Moonen A.-C., Ratnadass A., Ricci P., Sarah, J.-L., Sattin, M. 2015. Eight principles of integrated pest management. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 35:1199–1215.

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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS: No.

Surname

First name

COUNTRY

Institution

1

Arseniuk

Edward

Poland

IHAR-PIB

2

Asp

Torben

Denmark

Aarhus University

3

Bischoff-Schaefer

Monika

Germany

JKI, Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants

4

Boonekamp

Piet

Netherlands

Wageningen UR Plant Breeding, Applied Plant Research/Plant Research International

5

Borawski

Wojciech

Poland

IHAR-PIB

6

Brylińska

Marta

Poland

IHAR-PIB O/Młochów

7

Carmona

Maria Filomena Portugal

8

Chrpova

Jana

Czech Republic Crop Research Institute

9

Czembor

Jerzy

Poland

IHAR-PIB

10 Czembor

Paweł

Poland

IHAR-PIB

11 Danielewicz

Jakub

Poland

IOR

12 Dąbrowski

Zbigniew

Poland

SGGW

13 Decroocq

Véronique

France

INRA UMR BFP, UMR 1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie Centre INRA Bordeaux-Aquitaine Bât. IBVM

14 Dixelius

Christina

Sweden

SLU - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

15 Enjalbert

Jérôme

France

INRA

16 Gautier-Hamon

Gerard

France

Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry (MAAF)

17 Gorash

Andrii

Lithuania

Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, LAMMC Žemdirbystės institutas

18 Graham

Teakle

Great Britain

University of Warwick

19 Grzeszczak

Iga

Poland

IHAR-PIB

20 Jalli

Marja

Finland

Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

21 Janas

Regina

Poland

Insitute of Horticulture (IO)

22 Jansen

Jean-Pierre

Belgium

Walloon Agricultural Research Centre (CRA-W) Life Science Department

23 Kiełkiewicz-Szaniawska Małgorzata

Poland

SGGW

24 Klocke

Betina

Germany

JKI, Julius Kühn-Institut

25 Korbin

Małgorzata

Poland


26 Kozik

Elżbieta

Poland


Program & Abstracts

Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária

35

27 Kudsk

Per

Denmark

Aarhus Unversity

28 Kumar

Jiban

Czech Republic Crop Research Institute

29 Kumar Vats

Akshay

Indie

Bajra Section, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agrilcutural University Hisar

30 Lamichhane

Jay Ram

France

INRA, ECO-INNOV

31 Leszczyński

Bogumił

30 Lillemo

Morten

Norway

Norwegian University of Life Sciences

31 Messean

Antoine

France

INRA, ECO-INNOV Unité Eco - Innov Centre de Grignon

32 Mesterhazy

Akos

Hungary

Cereal Research Center

33 Mitura-Nowak

Karolina

Poland

IHAR-PIB

34 Muthuita

Isabela Wangu

Kenya

Community Development Production Center

35 Niewińska

Małgorzata

Poland

DANKO Hodowla Roślin Sp. z o.o.

36 Nowacki

Wojciech

Poland

IHAR-PIB O/Jadwisin

37 Ochodzki

Piotr

Poland

IHAR-PIB

38 Ölmez

Fatih

Turkey

Central Research Institute for Field Crops, Biotechnology Dept.

39 Pietraszko

Milena

Poland

IHAR-PIB O/Jadwisin

40 Revilla

Pedro

Spain

INIA

41 Rokicki

Michał

Poland

Poznanska Hodowla Roslin

42 Scholten

Olga

Netherlands

Wageningen UR Plant Breeding

43 Semaškienė

Roma

Lithuania

Institute of Agriculture, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry

44 Skowroński

Adam

Poland

Plant Breeding Smolice Ltd.

45 Sosnowska

Danuta

Poland

IOR

46 Starzycki

Michał

Poland

IHAR Poznan Division

47 Thach

Tine

Denmark

Aarhus University

48 van de Wiel

Clemens

Netherlands

Wageningen UR Plant Breeding

49 Warzecha

Roman

Poland

IHAR-PIB

50 Zaremba

Ludwik

Poland

Agro Serwis

51 Zarzyńska

Krystyna

Poland

IHAR-PIB O/Jadwisin

52 Zimnoch-Guzowska

Ewa

Poland

IHAR-PIB O/Młochów

53 Żurawicz

Edward

Poland


54 Żurek

Monika

Poland

IHAR-PIB

36

Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities


C-IPM Workshop on: “Breeding for IPM in sustainable and low-input agricultural systems”

CONTENT: AGENDA .......................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACTS .................................................................................................................... 6 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTORY SESSION .................................................................... 6 MESSÉAN A., LAMICHHANE J.R., MEYNARD J.-M., Role of crop diversification to boost IPM and implications for breedin ................................................................................................. 6 ARSENIUK E., CZEMBOR J.H., Resistance breeding programs of arable crop varieties for sustainable and low-input agriculture to boost IPM in Poland .................................................. 7

PLENARY SESSION: NEW AND WELL-DOCUMENTED TECHNOLOGIES AND PLANT TRAITS THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR IPM ................................................................................ 9 MESTERHAZY A., GYÖRGY A., SZABO-HEVER A., VARGA M., SZABÓ B., TÓTH B., Breeding for resistance against toxic fungi in wheat and maize combined with updated fungicide technology to reduce effectively toxin contamination in grain ................................................... 9 LILLEMO M., Breeding for partial disease resistance in wheat – and how this can reduce the need for chemical disease control ......................................................................................... 10 ASP T., Prospects for using genomic selection breeding strategies in low input agriculture 12 REVILLA P., Post management for sustainable agriculture in Spain ..................................... 13 BOONEKAMP P.M., Experience of more than ten years blight research on potato with a cisgenesis approach - final results and communication achievements ..................................... 14

PLENARY SESSION: BREEDING RESEARCH FOR IPM DONE IN RESEARCH INSTITUTES AND UNIVERSITIES IN POLAND ..................................................................................... 16 ZIMNOCH-GUZOWSKA E., Search for resistant germplasm to major pathogens in potato ... 16 SOSNOWSKA D., DANIELEWICZ J., National Action Plan (NAP) to reduce the risks arising from the use of plant protection products ............................................................................. 18 KOZIK E.U., Breeding for resistance to biotic stresses of vegetable crops ........................... 19 ŻURAWICZ E., KORBIN M., Breeding for resistance to diseases and pests of fruit crops at the Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland .................................................... 20 DABROWSKI Z.T., Breeding for resistance to insects............................................................ 21 Program & Abstracts

37

PLENARY SESSION: FOLLOW-UP: NEW AND WELL-DOCUMENTED TECHNOLOGIES AND PLANT TRAITS THAT ARE SUITABLE FOR IPM ................................................... 23 VAN DE WIEL C., SCHAART J.G., SMULDERS M.J.M., New Breeding technologies to support Integrated Pest Management ....................................................................................... 23 LESZCZYŃSKI B., SEMPRUCH C., CHRZANOWSKI G., SYTYKIEWICZ H., CZERNIEWICZ P., Molecular mechanisms underlying induced cereal resistance to aphids ............................ 24 SCHOLTEN O., VOORRIPS R., BURGER K., DE JONG P.F., VOSMAN B., Breeding for insect resistance for organic and conventional farming systems .................................................. 25

PLENARY SESSION: COMBINING BREEDING MATERIAL WITH CULTIVATION PRACTICES FOR AN IMPROVED INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT ....................................... 26 JALLI M., RAJALA A., TENHOLA-ROININEN T., PELTONEN-SAINIO P., Barley breeding in Nordic countries: effects on nitrogen use efficiency, disease resistance traits and genetic diversity .............................................................................................................................. 26 CHAVALLE S., JACQUEMIN G., DE PROFT M., JANSEN J.-P., Assessment of wheat cultivar resistance to orange wheat blossom midge, Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin) (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) using a phenotyping method under controlled conditions and its implication for IPM ........................................................................................................................ 27 THACH T., SØRENSEN C.K., HOVMØLLER M.S. , The challenges in breeding for disease resistance arising from dynamic pathogen populations ......................................................... 28 ENJALBERT J., BORG J., FORST E., GAUFFRETEAU A., GOLDRINGER I., New challenges for breeding varieties adapted to mixed cropping systems ...................................................... 30 DECROOCQ V., Plant-Pathogen(s) interactions in natural environment: How can this knowledge provide novel and durable strategies for breeding and sustainable disease management? ............................................................................................................................. 32

PLENARY SESSION: FOLLOW-UP: COMBINING BREEDING MATERIAL WITH CULTIVATION PRACTICES FOR AN IMPROVED INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT ................. 33 KLOCKE B., Testing breeding aims in German winter wheat in the field with respect to cropping systems and fungicide strategies ......................................................................... 33 SEMAŠKIENĖ R., Suggested cereals and Oilseed rape varieties for Integrated Pest Management under Lithuanian conditions ....................................................................................... 34

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................... 35

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Program & Abstracts

Program & Abstracts

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