PRESENTER: Dr. Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi

TITLE: Biochar-Mediated Disease Resistance on Tomato in Colombia

ABSTRACT: In many areas of the tropics, the production of fruits and vegetables for local food consumption or regional commerce is often limited by the ability to control for plant diseases that severely reduce yields. Tomato growers in particular are usually strapped with rising production costs due in part to the increased application of pesticides, and the acquisition of land to rotate crops; practices that are necessary to reduce the impact disease has on yield. Recent studies have shown that biochar, a soil amendment that can be produced through the pyrolysis of plant materials, increases plant biomass and may elicit plant defense responses to inhibit disease in a variety of crops. However, the biology underlying biochar-mediated defense is unclear. Further, the willingness of farmers to adopt biochar in fruit and vegetable production and factors influencing their adoption decisions are relatively unknown. In Colombia, the region around Piedemonte and Altillanura has two vegetable and fruit farmer associations growing tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables that they sell locally and in the major fruit auctions of the country.  Many of the varieties grown are not resistant to plant diseases and require expensive pesticides to reduce pathogen impact on yield. The goals of this project are to determine the feasibility of biochar as an alternative sustainable practice for smallholder farmers to limit disease incidence. We have formed a unique interdisciplinary collaboration that utilizes biological (Dr. Iyer-Pascuzzi, BTNY), economic (Dr. Tamara Benjamin, HORT) and social science (Dr. Zhao Ma, FNR) methods to attain these goals.

Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi has been an Assistant Professor in Botany and Plant Pathology since 2013. Her laboratory focuses on elucidating mechanisms of root-mediated resistance to soilborne plant pathogens, using tomato and the bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum as a model.  She is passionate about approaching real world problems from multiple biological scales, and her laboratory addresses plant root defense mechanisms from root cell types through whole plant levels. She has a B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University.

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