Project

Can the microbiome alter resistance to diseases in intercropping?

In this project you will explore how the microbiome associated to potato changes in response to intercropping, and you will investigate the ability of the microbiome to alter resistance to phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of potato late blight.

Project description

Pesticides and fungicides are often the farmer’s primary means of crop protection. However, alternative protection measures need to be explored with more restrictions on the use of these products and the development of fungicide resistance among pathogens. Intercropping has many benefits; among them is the potential to reduce pests and diseases, and it could thus be an alternative disease management practice.

This MSc thesis project will study how the microbiome, representing microbial communities associated with plant parts, is altered in response to cropping potato with either maize, grass or beans and whether the altered microbiome is associated with resistance to potato late blight. Previous work on other systems has shown the (hidden) potential of the microbiome in mediating diseases, but these have often been limited to pot studies. In this project, we want to uncover the potential of the microbiome for disease suppression at the field level.

Objectives and methods

Expectations

Preliminary experiments have shown that tolerance to potato late blight depends on the companion crop with which the potato is grown, and we suspect that the microbiome may be responsible for this.

Required skills

Your work involves fieldwork (sampling material), lab analysis (microbiome analysis by DNA sequencing) and disease resistance assessment (climate chamber experiments). You will be supervised by experts on disease epidemiology and microbiome research.