Review of the detection tools for seed-borne pathogens and the seed treatments that are applicable in organic seed production

Summary

With changing climatic conditions and a rapidly growing world population estimated to reach 9 billion by
2050, humankind faces the serious challenge of increasing food production by at least 70 %. The vision of
BRESOV is to tackle this challenge by exploring the genetic diversity of three of the economically most
significant vegetable crops (broccoli, snap bean, and tomato) and to improve the competitiveness of these
three crops in an organic and sustainable environment. The consortium’s overall aim is to increase the plants’
tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses and adapt the varieties to the specific requirements of organic and
low-input production processes.
In this frame we have pointed our attention to microbes actively involved in vegetable production generally
called plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPBs) and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) which
improve the performance and health of the crops playing a positive role on supplying nutrients to crops,
producing phytohormones, biocontrol of pathogens, improving soil structure, bioaccumulation of inorganic
compounds and bioremediation of metal contaminated soils. In addition, the natural compounds, as such as
glucosinolates (GLSs) or propolis, are widely utilized for pathogens control in organic agrosystems and the
list of natural compounds (NCs) useful for this task is long.
Sustainable agriculture needs to implement the interactions among beneficial soil microbiome and organic
matter, NCs and the plant, improving plant health and soil fertility and reducing the conventional agricultural
inputs through combining beneficial microorganisms.
It is known that the two main factors affecting the development of organic farming in Europe are the limited
quantity and the poor quality of organic seed available on markets (bad germination, pest contamination,
and contamination with weed seed). Therefore, WP4 (High quality organic seed production) aims to develop
the protocols and tools which suit to the specific conditions of organic farming to maximize yield (T4.1) and
ensure high quality (T4.2 and T4.3) of organic seeds in broccoli, snap bean and tomato.
Specific objectives of WP4:
- O4.1: Develop protocols adapted to the specific conditions of organic farming to improve organic seed yield.
- O4.2: Determine products and tools to control the sanitary and genetic quality of organic seed lots.
Task 4.2 foresees the evaluation of alternative seed treatments to the use of chemical treatments to control
sanitary quality of seed lots.
In fact the organic farming prohibits the use of conventional chemicals to control pests and diseases, so
alternative Biocontrol agents (BCAs) and NCs, as well as mechanical treatments, will be evaluated on seed
for its protection against seed-borne pathogens and for seed vigor enhancement.