Resistant material is now in the hands of commercial seed companies who will utilize this for their future seed releases to commercial growers and homeowners.
impact statement issue
Tomato is a significantly important crop for most Americans. Tomato diseases can be a limiting factor for tomato production and frequently require use of fungicide sprays for disease control. By combining the use of genetic resistance to three important foliar diseases and by utilizing mild supplemental sprays we can make production more sustainable and more environmentally friendly.
impact statement response
Trialing of this material in this integrated project allow us to determine that resistance needed to be homozygous for both pathogens in order for the resistance to withstand severe disease pressure common to the Northeast and New England states.
impact statement summary
A cooperative project between plant breeding and plant pathology illustrates the benefits of early integration of interdisciplinary work for tomato improvement. The objective of the project was to control three important foliar diseases that affect tomato from the mid-Atlantic, Northeast and New England states and extending west into the Midwest. The three diseases, Early Blight (EB), Late Blight (LB) and Septoria Leaf Spot (SLS) are typically controlled with the use of four to eight fungicide sprays applied on a weekly basis in conventional fields. The development of varieties with genetic resistance to these three pathogens would go a long way toward reducing the need for sprays, and, if minimal sprays were required, growers could choose to use mild supplemental sprays.
