Epidemiology and management of Cladosporium on raspberry
Lead Research Organisation:
Cranfield University
Department Name: School of Water, Energy and Environment
Abstract
Cladosporium has appeared to infect ripening raspberry plants in the last few seasons and seems to be increasing. This causes blemishes to the fruit and results in wastage of raspberries that cannot be marketed. This is a new disease for the UK and the industry is concerned to ensure that there is a better understanding of the species involved, their life cycle and ecology and the potential for the development of management practices which can minimise these infection, including the potential use of pesticides or Integrated management including biocontrol agents. This project will compliment and follow up previous work done on soft fruit pathogens in a collaboration between NIAB-EMR and Cranfield (PhD, Dr S. Agyare, 2017) on Mucor/Rhizopus in soft fruit.
Aspects to be covered by the project include the following:
(1) Genetic relationship among Cladosporium spp. from different fruit crops and their species identities
(2) Cross infectivity among Cladosporium spp. from different crops and potential interaction with Rhizopus and Mucor
(3) Inoculum dynamics, focusing on contrasting farms in terms of management practices and historical issues with Cladosporium, including the development of a qPCR to quantify airborne spores dynamics
(4) Epidemiology/ecology - optimum and marginal abiotic conditions for infection of several popular raspberry cultivars grown by commercial growers (e.g. BuryGardens) including some histology {electron and light microscopic work}
(5) Control strategies: focus will be on potential fungicide dose-response relationships; biocontrol, post-harvest use of UV and cool-chain management strategies.
Aspects to be covered by the project include the following:
(1) Genetic relationship among Cladosporium spp. from different fruit crops and their species identities
(2) Cross infectivity among Cladosporium spp. from different crops and potential interaction with Rhizopus and Mucor
(3) Inoculum dynamics, focusing on contrasting farms in terms of management practices and historical issues with Cladosporium, including the development of a qPCR to quantify airborne spores dynamics
(4) Epidemiology/ecology - optimum and marginal abiotic conditions for infection of several popular raspberry cultivars grown by commercial growers (e.g. BuryGardens) including some histology {electron and light microscopic work}
(5) Control strategies: focus will be on potential fungicide dose-response relationships; biocontrol, post-harvest use of UV and cool-chain management strategies.
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/T509073/1 | 01/11/2019 | 01/02/2024 | |||
| 2290048 | Studentship | BB/T509073/1 | 01/11/2019 | 31/01/2024 | Lauren Farwell |
| Description | The most abundant species of Cladosporium found on UK raspberries was C. cladosporioides, which will allow future research to focus on this species. The ripening and ripe stages of raspberry fruit development are susceptible to Cladosporium fruit rot, hence growers and agronomists will focus on monitoring and applying control methods to these stages of fruit development. |
| Exploitation Route | Other researchers can use these results to target species of Cladosporium found on crop material. Growers and agronomists can target the vulnerable stages of fruit development for monitoring of disease symptoms and application of control measures. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
| URL | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/9/2/128 |
| Description | The results from the epidemiological studies demonstrated which stages of raspberry fruit development are susceptible to Cladosporium fruit rot, which growers and agronomists can use to effectively check their crops for Cladosporium rot. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
| Impact Types | Economic |