Evolution-proofing plant protection for sustainable potato production: How can integrated pest management (IPM) reduce resistance development in pathogens?

Potato is the third most important crop worldwide.

It suffers from several serious diseases, leading to yield loss and fungicide dependence. “Early blight” disease, caused by the fungus Alternaria solani, is currently increasing in Sweden and other parts of Europe due to evolution of fungicide resistance in Alternaria populations.

To solve this problem there is an urgent need for increased knowledge about plant protection strategies that can mitigate the spread of fungicide resistance.

Because resistance development is an evolutionary response in the pathogen, solutions should be based on evolutionary knowledge.

One possibility is to stabilize the evolution of the pathogen by creating fluctuating rather than directional natural selection on the pathogen, e.g. by fine-tuning integrated pest management (IPM).

We aim to 1) Study how ecological factors (e.g. land use, local climate, soil type) and plant protection practices influence disease development, and how these factors affect genetic variation (reflecting evolutionary potential) in A. solani at farm level, 2) Investigate resistance development in A. solani populations sprayed with a recently approved fungicide, and 3) Identify how different IPM methods affect resistance development through mathematical modeling.

Taking a novel and timely approach to the complex problem of fungicide resistance, we expect our results to guide concrete actions for development of sustainable crop protection to control early blight disease.