Staying ahead of ever evolving cereal pathogens: management by early detection, host resistance, and microbiome exploitation

小麦和大麦是加拿大最重要的三种大田作物中的两种。叶部病原菌通过影响农产品的产量和质量，危害全球粮食安全。加拿大西部有5万名小麦和大麦种植者，每年从向其他国家出售这两种作物产生约75亿美元的收入。病虫害是重大的生产问题：在加拿大和美国中西部，据估计有18%的潜在小麦产量因病虫害而损失。该项目将重点关注小麦的条锈病和褐斑病，仅这两种疾病就造成了18%的产量损失中的5%。通过我们提议的研究，我们的目标是通过制定不仅对环境友好而且经济和可持续的疾病管理战略，显著减少这种由疾病造成的经济损失。在这个NSERC-Alliance项目中，我们将使用先进的便携式基因组测序仪，并开发基于微生物组的小麦褐斑病和条锈病以及大麦网斑病的疾病管理，这些以前都没有在加拿大作物病理学和疾病管理的背景下使用过。该项目将是加拿大第一个带来变化的项目，方法是引入快速病原体鉴定和遗传病原体种群特征的协议，从全球基因库收集中鉴定小麦褐斑病和条锈病的新抗源，以及鉴定用于疾病管理的谷物生产的抑病土壤(富含微生物的土壤产生天然抗真菌化合物)。通过创造更多的抗性品种选择，新的生物防治方法，并最大限度地减少杀菌剂的使用，该项目将对小麦和大麦生产、加拿大经济和环境产生巨大的长期影响。拟议的研究创新并补充了我们的伙伴组织在管理这些优先小麦和大麦疾病方面的现有努力。

Wheat and barley are two of the three most important field crops in Canada. Foliar leaf pathogens jeopardize global food security by affecting yield and quality of the produce. There are >50,000 wheat and barley growers in western Canada generating ~$7.5 billion is generated annually from the sale of the two crops to other countries. Insect-pests and diseases are significant production problems: an estimated 18% of potential wheat yield in Canada and Midwestern USA is lost to diseases and insect-pests. This project will focus on the diseases stripe rust and tan spot of wheat, which alone are responsible for 5% of that 18% yield loss. Through our proposed research, we aim to significantly reduce such economic disease-caused loss by developing strategies for disease management that are not only environmentally-friendly but also economical and sustainable. In this NSERC-Alliance project, we will use modern, cutting-edge portable genome sequencers and exploit microbiome-based disease management for tan spot and stripe rust of wheat and net blotch of barley, none of which have previously been used in the context of Canadian crop pathology and disease management. This project will be the first in Canada to bring about change by introducing protocols for rapid pathogen identification and genetic pathogen population characterization, identifying the new sources of resistance to wheat tan spot and stripe rust from global genebank collection, and identification of disease suppressive soils (soils rich in microbiomes produce natural anti-fungal compounds) for cereal production for use in disease management. By generating more resistant variety options, novel biological control methods, and minimizing fungicide application, this project will have massive long-term impacts on wheat and barley production, the Canadian economy, and the environment. The proposed research innovates and complements existing efforts by our partner organizations on management of these priority wheat and barley diseases.