Development of microbial consortia as a biocontrol agent for safe quality tomato fruit

Bacterial wilt, early blight and late blight are important diseases and key constraints in tomato production.

Current disease control measures depends heavily on chemical control, associated with negative impacts on the local environment, biodiversity and human health. More sustainable and effective plant protection strategies are therefore urgently needed.

In the current project, microbiome investigative studies on tomato production systems will be performed in collaboration with commercial tomato producers.

DNA-based profiling of the microbial communities will be used to identify key microorganisms associated with disease control and healthy tomato fruits.

Culture collections of plant health-associated microorganism will be established and screened for biological disease control and plant growth promotion using tomato greenhouse bioassays.

Promising microorganisms will be selected for larger efficacy tests in commercial settings in collaboration with producers.

In parallel, the potential for commercial product development of the selected beneficial microorganisms will be investigated, taking the local conditions in the participating countries into account.

The expected outcome from the project will be development of sustainable and efficient tomato plant protection strategies, based on beneficial microorganisms, which will support food production and the local economy in an environmentally friendly way without negative consequences for biodiversity and human health.