are highly susceptible to the disease even though they are what consumers are looking for in terms of taste,” said Khan. “Most of the newer apples released in the U.S. Cohn Professor of Agriculture and Life science, can use to produce new cultivars for apple growers. Pre-breeding lines are combinations of desirable genes from different cultivated and wild apples that breeders like Susan Brown, the Herman M. ![]() Khan’s research focus will be two-pronged: to identify new genetic sources of fire blight resistance and to develop pre-breeding lines that are high quality, and fire blight resistant through a sped-up process known as rapid cycle breeding. The approach causes apple trees to be less suitable for infection and colonization by the fire blight bacterium, which dies without a host. Cox will use these regulators to slow shoot growth when trees are at high risk for infection. Because the plant defenses attack numerous bacterial processes, the practice is considered sustainable because bacteria are unable to evolve mutation to overcome them all simultaneously.Īdditionally, Cox plants to test plant growth regulators, which are hormones that can be used to promote or delay ripening, and enhance or retard vegetative growth. “Even just a few infected blossoms can lead to complete orchard devastation in a matter of weeks.”Ĭox will assess the genetic response that occurs in apple trees following treatment with a variety of natural and synthetic defense inducers during the blossom phase in order to improve application timing and efficacy under changing environmental conditions and newer cultivars.ĭefense inducers turn on plants’ natural defenses, allowing them to effectively wage biochemical warfare against invading pathogens like fire blight. “The most critical time period is the blossom phase because the blossom is the pathogen’s first means of entry into the tree,” he said. on a four-year project to develop a comprehensive fire blight management strategy for American fruit growers.Ĭox’s goal is to better understand the first stage of the disease, called blossom blight. ![]() This fall, Awais Khan and Kerik Cox, associate professors of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology, will start working with collaborators from across the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $779,000 grant to Cornell AgriTech researchers to combat fire blight, one of the most devastating bacterial diseases for the apple and pear industries.
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