INTERCOMPLEX - Bringing together an INTERdisciplinary collective to exchange knowledge, methods, and tools to better understand and manage crop disease COMPLEXes.

Background and challenge 

Crop breeding has considerably improved the resistance of species against pathogens in a targeted manner, but the current breeding method does not consider resistance or tolerance to disease complexes caused by the interaction of multiple pathogens on the scale of a crop cycle. This underlines that sustainable crop health management in the context of disease complexes is not possible, as management levers effective against individual pathogens may be ineffective against pathogen complexes. This calls for a paradigm shift in the way we observe, monitor, and manage plant disease complexes. 

Objectives 

Available knowledge on the pathogen complexes is very limited. In this sense, we wish to consider: 

• whether and how agro-ecological cropping systems, characterized by greater spatiotemporal crop diversity, the absence or reduction of synthetic inputs, and the absence or reduction of tillage, can provide an opportunity for the management of disease complexes
• how to mobilize available knowledge, methods, and tools for early detection of plant disease complexes.

The project will bring together specialists from different disciplines (agronomists, plant pathologists, ecologists, geneticists, eco-physiologists, economists, modelers, and population biologists) through webinars and brainstorming retreats. Over the 2 years of the project, we aim to:

1. Develop a conceptual framework shared by the scientific community on the theme of disease complexes
2. Share knowledge, tools, and methods useful to the study of plant disease complexes, and gather all key information in a shared database
3. Identify major obstacles to the understanding and management of crop disease complexes to develop future research priorities
4. Identify an international partnership that can be mobilized on this topic

Involved research units and partnership

External partners

Contact of the coordinator(s):