Source: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS submitted to NRP
LIMITING FUSARIUM BASAL ROT LOSSES IN ALLIUM CROPS: A PLANNING GRANT TO ESTABLISH NATIONAL NEEDS AND PRIORITIES FOR IMPROVING MANAGEMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031506
Grant No.
2023-51181-41171
Cumulative Award Amt.
$50,000.00
Proposal No.
2023-05673
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2023
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2024
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[SCRI]- Specialty Crop Research Initiative
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Onions and garlic are a dietary staple for most U.S. households. Fusarium basal rot (FBR) is a widespread disease driving up to 40% loss in onion and garlic across the U.S., representing up to a $10m loss for affected producers, with downstream impacts on increased costs to consumers. Impacts are pervasive across seed, fresh market, and processing production systems. In clonally produced garlic seed, cryptic infections often go undetected, enabling widespread pathogen spread. Existing decision support and management resources are inadequate. Lack of accurate diagnostic tools for FBR results in rampant misdiagnoses and subsequent use of inappropriate management tools leads to costly losses. The goals of this planning grant are to: (1) identify needs of stakeholders via listening sessions; (2) bring together researchers, breeders, and extension personnel actively working on FBR, to provide a platform for information exchange around this issues; (3) leverage efforts to develop a review article on Fusarium basal rot of onion and garlic; (4) collate information generated from these joint efforts to develop a cohesive set of research and extension goals that will be addressed with a full SCRI-SREP proposal.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
21214511160100%
Knowledge Area
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
1451 - Onion, garlic, leek, shallot;

Field Of Science
1160 - Pathology;
Goals / Objectives
The goals of this planning grant are two-fold: (1) to work with stakeholders to identify needs and develop a strategic research and extension plan for a future SCRI SREP grant application, with support from a professional facilitator (strategic planning); and (2) to build a project team and develop a high quality SREP SCRI proposal for submission in 2025, with support from a professional project coordinator (proposal development). These efforts will also be leveraged to develop a review article on FBR to communicate outcomes from this planning grant, raising awareness of FBR research activities and needs.
Project Methods
1. Conduct listening sessions with growers, industry members and other stakeholders nation-wide through 3-4 online focus group meetings (Fall 2023), to assess Fusarium basal rot (FBR) impacts and barriers to reducing economic losses across seed, fresh market, and processing production systems for onions and garlic, in field and post-harvest contexts. As part of this effort, identify stakeholder members for an advisory committee.2. Jointly curate a Fusarium basal rot bibliography of key works in diagnosis and management, for review by all participants prior to the working group meeting (Fall 2023).3. Hold a day-long, in-person research forum and grant development working group meeting (Dec 2023) to discuss recent and ongoing work and identify future research, diagnostic and extension priorities for effective FBR management. As part of this, identify other national and international researchers and stakeholders to include in proposal efforts.4. Leveraging above efforts, develop a review article on FBR impacts, management and needs in garlic and onions, for publication in a peer reviewed journal (Winter-Spring 2024).5. Hold three online grant proposal development meetings (Winter-Summer 2024), aimed at (meeting 1) identifying research priorities, advisory committee members, and roles of the participating members, (meeting 2) workshopping project objectives, and (meeting 3) refining project plans, identifying project personnel, and PI/Co-PI budget allotments.6. Develop a comprehensive interdisciplinary, multi-state, inter-institutional Standard Research and Extension Project (SREP) proposal (starting summer 2024) to submit in 2025.Locations for above activies:2023 National Allium Research Conference, Nov. 29- Dec. 2,2023, San Antonio, TX. Listening session.Garlic and Onion Research Board Meeting, Feb. 2024, Tulare, CA. Listening session.Videoconference-based listening session for onion and garlic production regions determined to have poor representation at above venues.Fusarium basal rot working group meeting, Mar. 2024, Davis, CA (zoom accessible).SREP FBR grant development workshop, Mar. 2024, Davis, CA (zoom accessible).SREP proposal planning zoom meeting #1. Priorities and project team members.SREP proposal planning zoom meeting #2. Objectives, outcomes, and roles.SREP proposal planning zoom meeting #3. Timeline, budget, and proposal development plan (roles and dates).

Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Allium production communities, nation wide including seed and bulb growers and processors of onion and garlic, and supporting extensionists, germplasm curators and researchers / breeders serving these communities. Specific growers include: foundation garlic and onion seed producers (processors), garlic and onion field seed growers, fresh market garlic and onion growers and post harvest storage operators, processing garlic and onion growers and processors Communities support tomato production including: Cooperative extension farm advisors, private consultants, breeding programs (public and private) diagnostics labs (public and private), national IPM outreach programs. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. 1 Postdoctoral researcher trained in meeting facilitation and note taking by AgInnovations 2. 7 extensionists with new information to improve outreach efforts for FBR management 3. 15 researchers developed professionally as a result of research exchange How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?1. Integration into grant proposals (3) 2. Oral communication of outputs to ~30 growers / processors What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goals and accomplishments Goal 1) work with stakeholders to identify needs and develop a strategic research and extension plan for a future SCRI SREP grant application, with support from a professional facilitator (strategic planning) with support from a professional project coordinator (proposal development), leveraging efforts to develop a review article on FBR Accomplishments 1. Three stakeholder listening sessions capturing needs for producers across the state 2. Impacts and needs assessment meeting, as part of the SCRI Fusarium Bulb Rot Research & Planning Meeting. 9 presentations, representing 8 states and 3 countries 3. Developed and coordinated a SCRI Fusarium Bulb Rot Research & Planning Meeting in March 2024 with support from UC ANR and AgInnovations (agenda development, travel arrangements, meeting arrangements). Meeting run by 2 facilitators from AgInnovations and Swett (convener); 1 virtual meeting coordinator; 1 note taker; 17 researchers 3. Current FBR research meeting as part of the SCRI Fusarium Bulb Rot Research & Planning Meeting. a. Epidemiology and management. 4 presentations b. Diagnostics and detection. 5 presentations c. Genetic resistance. 3 presentations d. Economics of crop disease management-insights for FBR. 2 presenters 4. Research need and opportunity assessments as part of the SCRI Fusarium Bulb Rot Research & Planning Meeting. 4 assessment discussions by topic area. 5. Planning meeting as part of the SCRI Fusarium Bulb Rot Research & Planning Meeting. Led by 2 facilitators from AgInnovations. a. risk-reward prioritization (gallery walk) b. shared vision development c. draft proposal objectives d. ranking of research categories. 6. Development of an Annotated Bibliography. 14 contributors. 2-5 articles each. 7. Development of FBR review article outline based on notes from industry overview, research status and needs at SCRI meeting. 20pgs. 7. Outline of FBR review article content (research presentation content complied by notetaker as sections of a review article Goal 2) build a project team and develop a high quality SREP SCRI proposal for submission in 2025 Accomplishments 1. > 20 grant development meetings 2. 54 letters of support / collaboration acquired for SRS 3. Two advisory board meetings held to review proposed work, with 4-5 presentations at each meeting. 4. Development of an SCRI-SREP SRS pre-proposal 5. SCRI-SREP SRS pre-proposal successfully submitted Nov 2024

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cassandra Swett, Malia Josephine, Justine Beaulieu, Genevieve Taylor. SCRI Fusarium Bulb Rot Research & Planning Meeting. 2024. AgInnovations Meeting Summary Report. 41pgs. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cz5XKE-3fbVbWDPjVdtFioaFAOsg6RJuADbwjALNUJA/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.682w4u3zork3
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cassandra Swett, Brenna Aegerter, Mary Campbell, Chris Cramer, Lindsey du Toit, Jeremiah Dung, Frank Hay, Christy Hoepting, Alicyn Smart, Crystal Stewart Courtans, Robert Wilson, Tom Turini, Michael Havey, Anne van Diepeningen, John Clarkson, Claudia Nischwitz, Amanda Hodson, Olena Sambucci, Mary Ruth McDonald, Pierre Merel, and Justine Beaulieu. 2023. Limiting Fusarium Basal Rot Losses in Allium Crops: AN SCRI Planning Grant to Establish National Needs and Priorities for Improving Management. 2023 National Allium Research Conference / National Onion Growers Association Meeting Abstract.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: November 26, Limiting Fusarium Basal Rot Losses in Allium Crops: A SCRI Planning Grant to Establish National Needs and Priorities for Improving Management. National Allium Research Conference-National Onion Association Joint meeting. Nov 26-Dec 2, 2023, San Antonio, TX. 100 attendees.