Portugal to create genomic surveillance center for diseases in agricultural crops

InnovPlantProtect (InPP), in partnership with the University of Évora (UÉ), will create a genomic surveillance center for diseases in agricultural crops in the Portuguese region of Alentejo.

The statement explained, ″The AlViGen: Creation of a pole in the Alentejo for the GEnomic Surveillance of diseases in agriculture″ will allow the early detection of diseases, with molecular methods that allow the identification of essential characteristics of pathogens, such as virulence, susceptible varieties and resistance to phytopharmaceuticals, benefiting producers and government entities/authorities.

″The AlViGen project is important for us to establish conditions to apply genomic surveillance. As soon as these conditions are established, we will apply genomic surveillance to fungi in olive groves and wheat fields,″ declared Ricardo Ramiro, the InPP researcher responsible for the project,.

″We will identify the species of fungi that circulate in the air and characterize the strains of two key fungi in these cultures: Puccinia striiformis f.sp. tritici (yellow rust on wheat) and Colletotrichum spp. (gafa in the olive grove). This will allow early and rapid detection of strains of these fungi and some of their characteristics, including virulence and resistance to fungicides/pesticides,″ he said

″The information obtained can be used to prevent accentuated losses in the production of these essential crops for the Alentejo region, which is the primary producer at the national level,″ added Rosário Félix, a professor at the UÉ also involved in the project.

The AlViGen project results from an international collaboration with institutions from Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, bringing together research centers, companies and producer associations, and public administration institutions.

InPP is a collaborative laboratory (CoLab), a public-private non-profit association, created to develop innovative biobased solutions to protect crops from pests and diseases and provide monitoring and diagnosis services, thus contributing to the sustainability of agricultural systems.

Its primary focus is Mediterranean crops, especially their protection against emergent pests and diseases associated with climate change, whose harmful effects are already visible in many countries, including Portugal.

The project was one of the winners of the 4th edition of the Promove Program of the ″La Caixa″ Foundation, in collaboration with BPI and the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), in the category of innovative pilot projects.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)