Projects / Programmes
New management practices for mitigating abiotic and biotic stresses in maize under changing climate conditions
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.03.01 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Plant production |
Agricultural plants |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B006 |
Biomedical sciences |
Agronomics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 4.01 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |
climate change, biotic and abiotic stress, remote sensing, microbial inoculants, western corn root worm, Diabrotica, Meloidogyne, root knot nematode,
Researchers (28)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Maize is the second most important crop in the world, with a global production of more than 1 billion tonnes from 188 million hectares in 2016. In Slovenia almost 40% of arable land is used for crop rotated maize, which is mainly used as animal feed. Various biotic and abiotic stresses affect all stages of corn development and threaten optimum productivity. Integrated management practices aim to mitigate these stresses with minimal use externally applied pesticides, nutrients or water, while retaining current yields or if possible increasing them.
The main goal of this project is to introduce new management practices for mitigating selected abiotic and biotic stressors in maize. The development of novel low-risk and alternative plant protection methods will facilitate sustainable, safe and high quality fodder production in the future, and contribute to reduction of agricultural losses due to pests in a manner that presents the minimal risk to human and animal health and to the environment. The ambition of this project is a general reduction of chemical pesticide use without adverse effects on crop yields and agro-economy.
In order to achieve the project goals, research work is planned in four work packages. A set of functional DNA markers, which are associated with agronomic, quality and abiotic stress traits, will be established. The abiotic stress related DNA markers will be utilized for the screening and selection of maize varieties to be studied in pot and field experiments. Selected beneficial microorganisms, in different mixtures, will be tested in order to ascertain their effect on plant health and yield, i.e., their beneficial plant growth promoting effects and ability to control selected insect pests. Pot experiments will be used to test the effect of selected beneficial microorganisms (fungi and bacteria) on the western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera and tropical root knot nematode species Meloidogyne luci. Remote sensing methods will be implemented for the early detection of pest infestations in open fields and glasshouses. Because visible symptoms can be virtually identical to drought stress, remote sensing has to focus on the near-infrared and shortwave infrared spectral regions. The pot experiments will be validated under field conditions in two biogeographically differing production areas in Slovenia (Rakičan in NE Slovenia and Bilje in W Slovenia). Plant health status will be monitored in all experiments, by measuring their physiological status and classical phenotyping. Precision agriculture approaches in the field will be facilitated by using UAV-mounted multispectral cameras and Sentinel satellite imagery, combined with high-precision GPS data. The principles of precision agriculture state that any management practices should be performed with high spatial accuracy, for which remote sensing approaches are required.
The results of this project will support the assessment of the potential threat these pests pose for agricultural production. By assessing the potential damage to maize, we will be able to assess the risk of M. luci for agricultural production and to anticipate the need to declare quarantine phytosanitary status. Remote sensing methods will facilitate early detection of attack and faster response to pest. Early detection allows application of biotic or chemical control measures before RKNs emerge as epidemic threats.
Significance for science
The proposed project aims at developing advanced technologies for mitigating drought and pest related threats in maize production. Research results will allow:
- early detection of abiotic and biotic stress in maize,
- alleviation of abiotic and biotic stresses in maize by microbial products,
- assessments of damage potential caused by the tropical root knot nematode Meloidogyne luci in Slovenian maize production.
The functional DNA markers will be utilized as effective and reliable tool to identify tolerant and susceptible maize varieties to abiotic/drought stress. Moreover, the panel of other functional markers will be established in association with other agronomic and quality traits in maize. The validation and establishment of DNA markers from this project would allow their application in modern pre-breeding evaluation of maize genotypes and more efficient selection of elite genotypes in combination with phenotypic selection to achieve desired breeding goals.
The use of remote sensing methods is nowadays a constant in many scientific disciplines. However, it is mainly based on individual recordings, and the temporal sequences are mostly treated as individual recordings with longer time intervals between them. As part of this project, time series with high temporal resolution will be processed and will provide direct added value, in the form of detecting changes, identifying pest infestations and calculating spectral indices. Because this project focuses on the root system, the results will facilitate future research of remote sensing of pests in agriculture. Furthermore, remote sensing methodology is usually employed for identification of pests and diseases, but rarely for mitigating factors, such as beneficial microorganisms. With the spectral libraries and newly developed data analysis pipelines, the scientific community will receive a set of tools for processing large amounts of data in a time sequence, which will enable more reliable identification of pests, processes and changes.
An important goal of the proposed project is to develop a stable rhizosphere competent microbial community which will enhance maize tolerance to soil-borne WCR larvae and increase resistance to drought. Our innovative bioaugmentation approach will enable us to use significantly lees biocontrol / biostimulation agents, thereby reducing the pest management costs as well as the undesired impact on non-target organisms. We expect that the novel knowledge will have direct implications in plant production. Our preliminary results are promising: inoculation of several fungal isolates pathogenic to WCR onto maize roots resulted in a significant increase of maize biomass. Further we were able to show that the input isolates persisted on growing maize roots, which thus served as a vector of beneficial fungi.
Significance for the country
Maize is being grown on approximately 40% of arable land in Slovenia, and is thus one of the most important crops. Because maize is comparatively highly susceptible to abiotic and biotic stress, different management practices have to be utilized in order to obtain adequate yields. Biotic stress is often mitigated by using chemical treatments, which can have a detrimental effect to local biodiversity and groundwater quality. Climate change projections indicate that both biotic and abiotic stress will increase in the following years, which would mean a larger use of chemical treatments. In this project we will introduce novel and non-chemical methods of stress mitigation on a field level, combined with precision agriculture approaches and early warning systems. The results of this project will facilitate integrated management of maize, thus lowering the negative impact on local biodiversity and groundwater.
The main benefit of precision agriculture approaches using remote sensing is the availability of spatially accurate data of different stressors in a field. When combined with early warning systems, targeted and timely management practices are facilitated, thus reducing overall costs for farmers. The remote sensing classification models using hyperspectral and multispectral imaging, developed in this project, can later be provided as services for farmers and decision makers at national level. These models will utilize all spectral information and utilize it in machine learning schemes, hence being more accurate than generally offered services, which are based on only one spectral index or a limited selection of these.
The results of this project will reveal the true damage potential of M. luci for agricultural crop production of maize in Slovenia and Europe and thus facilitate declaration of quarantine phytosanitary status for M. luci. With classification of M. luci as a quarantine pest we will be able to implement strict phytosanitary measures needed to prevent further spread of this pest in Slovenia and Europe.
Even though maize originates from the Americas, it has been grown in Europe for centuries and has become part of the cultural heritage, e.g. polenta and corn bread. Most beautiful and colourful corn cobs visibly exposed in traditional production systems for drying have also been documented in cultural heritage items. Most importantly, maize emerged as the most important fodder plant for ruminant livestock as it is energy- and biomass-rich and easily processed in silage. Our project will enable traditional farmers to continue with maize based fodder production, by performing targeted pest management, with a lower impact on biodiversity and groundwater quality. Their products could then be marketed accordingly, with an increased added value.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
