The introduction of high-yielding and hybrid cultivars and the opening of new markets in the food and feed sector have steadily increased rapeseed production since the 1980s in the main production regions, Canada, Europe, China, India, and Australia. Since the 1990s, however, the average growth rate of yields has declined in Europe and Australia, which has been associated with a less effective control of biotic stresses. A global survey including the knowledge of 22 experts from 10 countries revealed a total of 16 diseases, 37 insect pests, several species of nematodes, and slugs currently affecting rapeseed production globally. A ranking of the top 10 most important biotic stresses in the four global regions where Brassica napus is grown (Canada, China, Europe, Australia) indicated an increase in several important stresses and distinct regional differences in the priority of prevailing diseases and pests. A stronger overlap exists among diseases, with Sclerotinia stem rot, Phoma stem canker, and clubroot occurring in all the four global regions on the top 10 list, while the range of prevailing insect pests was more diverse among the regions, with no top 10 insect playing an equally important role worldwide. Management options are substantially broader in disease than in pest control, making the latter the larger challenge. Since common integrated pest management (IPM) tools such as crop rotation, soil management, resistant cultivars or biocontrol are ineffective or not available, insect control largely relies on insecticides. Increasing restrictions on insecticide use, particularly in Europe, and losses in insecticide efficacy threaten the profitability of oilseed rape production and its role as an important break crop in cereal dominated cropping systems. Since the survival time of insects in the absence of their main host is relatively short (<1 year), a regional synchronization of cropping schemes resulting in one or more years without the crop could lead to a substantial disruption of regional insect populations. If rotation schemes were implemented on the landscape instead the farm level, by coordination among growers in zones covering the range distances of insect pests, an efficient and chemical low management strategy could be established and enable a more sustainable rapeseed production in the future.
Trichoderma species are widespread filamentous fungi in soils, on plant roots and decaying plant residues. Due to their strong competitiveness and mycoparasitic activity against other fungi, particular strains of Trichoderma sp. are used in agriculture as biocontrol agents against plant pathogens. Commercial products based on strains of T. harzianum or T. afroharzianum have been applied to control Rhizoctonia spp., Fusarium spp., and Phytophthora spp. in various crops. In 2018, however, severe infections of Trichoderma on maize ears were recorded for the first time in a field in Southern Germany. Infected maize cobs were sampled, the fungus was isolated in pure culture and preliminarily identified microscopically as T. harzianum. After silk channel inoculation in the greenhouse, ear rot disease of high severity was observed. In addition to fungal colonization, the dry matter content in cobs was significantly reduced compared to water inoculated cobs. In 2018 and 2019, a total of 13 T. harzianum isolates from maize cobs and maize stalks were isolated and tested, for pathogenicity on maize plants in the greenhouse, compared to several reference isolates. Four isolates proved to be highly aggressive, two biocontrol isolates, Trichodex (T39), and strain T12, induced slight infection and eleven isolates were non-pathogenic. After sequencing of the translation elongation factor-1α (tef-1α) and internal transcribes spacers (ITS), the four highly aggressive isolates were reassigned to T. afroharzianum, while the commercial biocontrol isolates Trichodex (T39), and T12, as well as the other non-pathogenic strains belonged to T. harzianum, T. atroviride, or T. tomentosum. This, to our knowledge, is the first report on Trichoderma sp. as a pathogen causing ear rot disease in maize in Europe with the potential to incite significant yield losses. We therefore propose to name this disease as "Trichoderma ear rot on maize".
Sclerotinia stem rot (SSR) is an economically and globally significant disease in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) caused by the necrotrophic ascomycete Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. This study explored the role of cell wall reinforcement by lignin as a relevant factor for effective plant defence against attack of this pathogen. Expression of key genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway and the induced synthesis of lignin in infected stem tissues were investigated in a study comparing a susceptible (Loras) and a moderately resistant cultivar (Zhongyou 821, ZY821). Data revealed an earlier and more rapid defence activation in ZY821 through up-regulation of transcript levels of genes related to key steps in the phenylpropanoid pathway associated with enhanced lignin deposition in the resistant B. napus genotype. Expression level of BnCAD5, encoding a cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase, responsible for conversion of monolignol to lignin, was more rapidly up-regulated in ZY821 than Loras. The similar expression pattern of BnCAD5 and the gene BnF5H, encoding for the ferulate-5-hydroxylase which catalyses the synthesis of syringyl (S) lignin precursors, suggests that BnCAD5 is involved in the S lignin formation. Histological observations confirmed these results, showing an earlier increase of S lignin deposition in the infected resistant genotype. Deposition of guaiacyl (G) lignin was detected in both genotypes and is thus considered a component of basal, cultivar-independent defence response of B. napus to stem rot. The results indicate the importance of cell wall modification for quantitative stem rot resistance by responses in the phenylpropanoid metabolism generating distinct lignin types on different temporal scales.
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