ST. PAUL, Minn. (March 2014)—Bacterial spot disease of tomato is a major, widespread issue in hot, humid growing areas, particularly in the Southeastern United States.
The latest ‘Focus on Tomato’ webcast presentation, titled “Effective Transgenic Resistance to Bacterial Leaf Spot in Florida Tomatoes” helps prepare growers and consultants for this growing season.
This webcast, authored by Dr. Diana Horvath, Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Two Blades Foundation, helps users understand a new approach to fighting bacterial spot disease of tomato, one of the most significant diseases of the fresh market tomato industry.
This presentation describes key features of bacterial spot’s causal agent, Xanthomonas, and details the conception and execution of the resistance strategy, which has been achieved through the introduction of a common disease resistance gene from pepper by transgenic methods.
Field trial data and photos demonstrating the significant reduction in disease severity and increased yield are shown. The issues of regulatory approvals and consumer concerns are also discussed.
By the end of this presentation, the practitioner should know more about a new tool in development that can help to control this significant disease, eliminate ineffective copper treatments and increase yields, as well as to learn more about what is involved in bringing a transgenic crop to market
This presentation is open access through May 31, 2014.
Users can view other recent webcasts in the Focus on Tomato resource at
http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/fot.
Webcasts on a variety of other crops can be found in PMN’s Education Center.
To take advantage of PMN’s full line of resources, please sign up for the PMN Update online newsletter.
The Plant Management Network (www.plantmanagementnetwork.org) is a nonprofit online publisher whose mission is to enhance the health, management, and production of agricultural and horticultural crops. It achieves this mission through applied, science-based resources, like Focus on Tomato.
To help achieve its nonprofit publishing mission, PMN partners with more than 80 organizations, which include universities, nonprofits, and agribusinesses.
Source:Plant Management Network