Developing robustness to biotic stress in fruit crops by below-ground phenotyping using novel image acquisition techniques

草莓有助于营养和健康的饮食，是英国重要的作物。对化学控制的类型和频率的限制越来越多，意味着现有品种很快将不适合在土壤中进行可持续生产。该项目将开发技术，以帮助测量控制植物对线虫的天然抗性的地下性状，线虫与称为大丽轮枝菌的真菌病原体（枯萎病的病原体）结合，造成重大作物损失。新的测量技术将被开发，这将允许鉴定枯萎病和线虫抗性基因，英国育种计划可以利用这些基因来改进新品种。此外，这种新的性状测量系统可以应用于其他作物育种计划（沿着其他应用），以提高大植物群体的性状测量效率。

Strawberries contribute to a nutritious and healthy diet and are an important UK crop. Increasing restrictions in the type and frequency of chemical controls mean that existing varieties will soon be unsuitable for sustainable production in the soil. This project will develop technologies to aid the measurement of below-ground traits controlling natural plant resistance to nematodes, which in combination with a fungal pathogen called Verticillium dahliae (the causative agent of a wilting disease) cause major crop losses. Novel measurement techniques will be developed, which will allow the identification of wilt and nematode resistance genes that UK breeding programmes can harness to improve new varieties. Furthermore, this novel trait measurement system can be applied to other crop breeding programmes (along with other applications) to enhance the efficiency of trait meaurement on large plant populations.