Improving sustainable crop protection using population genetics concepts.

Area of Science:

• Plant Pathology
• Genetics
• Evolutionary Biology
• Agricultural Science

Background:

• Genetically resistant plants control pathogens and reduce pesticide use.
• Pathogen adaptation can rapidly overcome plant resistance, posing a challenge to sustainable crop protection.
• Current research efforts have not fully resolved how to achieve durable resistance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the evolution of the resistance durability research field.
• To identify how the current structure of the field impedes integrated progress.
• To propose population genetics as a unifying framework for sustainable resistance management.

Main Methods:

• Bibliographic analysis of the resistance durability research field.
• Identification of distinct subfields: plant breeding, molecular interactions, and epidemiology and evolution.
• Theoretical argumentation for the application of population genetics.

Main Results:

• The field of resistance durability has fragmented into three specialized subfields.
• This fragmentation impedes integrated research and compromises sustainable management of genetic resistance.
• A gap exists between the subfields, which can be bridged by population genetics.

Conclusions:

• Integrating research through population genetics offers a unified view of pathogen adaptation.
• Population genetics can track genetic changes and population dynamics, informing evolutionary-epidemiological feedbacks.
• This integrated framework can improve the development and management of genetically resistant cultivars for sustainable agriculture.