Summary
This spatially explicit computational modelling study compares the effectiveness of different resistance gene deployment strategies for perennial crops, using grapevine downy mildew as a case study. The key finding is that pyramiding strategies lose their evolutionary advantage when single-gene-resistant cultivars are planted concurrently in the landscape (hybrid strategies), particularly at low mutation probabilities. The relative performance of pyramiding versus hybrid strategies depends critically on whether adapted pathogens incur fitness costs across all hosts or only on unnecessary virulence alleles.
UK applicability
The findings are potentially relevant to UK viticulture and other perennial horticultural crops, as well as cereal and crop protection policy, informing decisions about cultivar deployment in disease management strategies. However, applicability to specific UK cropping systems depends on pathogen and crop alignment with study parameters, and field validation would be needed to confirm applicability to UK growing conditions.
Key measures
Evolutionary control (time to pathogen adaptation); epidemiological control (disease incidence/spread); probabilities of pathogen mutation; fitness costs of mutations; pathogen adaptation risk; disease suppression efficacy; field size effects
Outcomes reported
The study modelled evolutionary and epidemiological control of downy mildew in grapevines and cereals under different resistance deployment strategies (pyramiding, mixture, mosaic, and hybrid) across spatial scales. It evaluated the effectiveness of these strategies in delaying pathogen adaptation whilst maintaining disease protection.
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