Management of hairy root disease in tomato cultivation using integrated biocontrol organisms (BioMan)

“Hairy root disease” (HRD) (also known as “crazy roots”) is caused by rhizogenic agrobacteria, and is characterized by extensive root proliferation, which results in severe economic losses. Yield decreases of more than 10% in tomato horticulture have been observed. HRD is a rapidly spreading and highly persistent disease, which is not easily managed with conventional biocides. In this project, we propose an integrated and sustainable biocontrol approach that is based on two complementary strategies: the use of ‘antagonistic’ bacterial strains and ‘lytic’ bacteriophages.We patented on the one hand several bacterial strains showing antagonistic activity against rhizogenic agrobacteria. Preliminary experiments indicate that these biocontrol organisms (BCO’s) show high potential to prevent or at least reduce infection with rhizogenic agrobacteria. On the other hand, we isolated and characterized in an ongoing European H2020 project a number of bacterial viruses (phages) that very selectively kill rhizogenic agrobacteria, thus making them potentially applicable as biocontrol system. Moreover, we postulate that the integration of both biocontrol organisms (BCOs) potentially has a unique synergistic action, that could also be expanded to other pathosystems in the future.The BioMan consortium aims to optimize the use of these BCOs in tomato cultivation to reduce the economic losses associated with HRD.

Keywords:integrated pest management, hairy root disease, phage biocontrol, biocontrol organisms, tomato

Disciplines:Horticultural crop protection, Sustainable agriculture