PHC2022/05 will take a unique cross-disciplinary approach using biophysical risk modelling combined with social science methods to analyse the threat from emerging plant health threats to both arable and horticultural crops in Scotland.

This project was selected for funding from the Project Call: “Enhancing preparedness against pests and diseases: plugging evidence gaps for Scotland”.
From this project there will be an improved understanding of potential risks from plant pathogens under future climate scenarios to inform future priorities for pathogen detection and surveillance efforts. The biophysical modelling will be added to with qualitative data from existing Scottish Government funded stakeholder consultation research.

The project will also identify knowledge gaps for further research, such as in biology, host distributions, and other biophysical factors influencing pathogen spread as required by the model, as well as a shared understanding with stakeholders of priority concerns regarding future plant health risks.

Previous research shows that better informed farmers and agronomists can make better IPM decisions and score higher in IPM metrics (PHC2020/05). Research has also identified that decision making on farm is often shared between the farm agronomist and the farmer. However, there is a knowledge gap on how factors influencing IPM scores link to available impact metrics such as pesticide usage.

This project will look to improve the flow of IPM knowledge and its uptake to increase the resilience of Scotland’s crops to pests and diseases, whilst reducing reliance on pesticides.

The drivers and barriers to further adoption of IPM practices for different decision makers and for different farm types will be identified, improving the ability to tailor IPM research and knowledge transfer and exchange activities to consider, if not overcome, those barriers and improve uptake.

The unexpected finding of the presence of Lso and a potential vector species in Scotland raised significant concerns (Sjolund et al. 2017). However, without further information this cannot be put into context. The likelihood is that the disease and possible vector have been present in Scotland for a long time, and yet our crops remain symptomless. Therefore, without the introduction of another vector risk may remain low. In order to confirm this and establish the current risk of transmission to crops, the following information is urgently required: the distribution of potential pyllid vectors including T. anthrisci in regions of Scotland, the presence of Haplotype C Lso within these vectors, a genomic comparison of the Scottish Haplotype C Lso with disease-causing Haplotype C Lso from Finland and Spain, and establishment of T. anthrisci’s vector potential through the development of a breeding colony.

The knowledge required to identify different psyllid species is highly specialised but is essential in order to gain a wider understanding of the disease threat that such insects cause. As few in Scotland have this specialisation (including SASA), it is deemed important to up-skill others by running a training course on psyllid identification for entomologists within Scottish organisations to better enable Scotland to deal with possible Lso threats both now and in the future.

Impact:
This project will contribute to Scottish Government’s ability to control pests / diseases by increased knowledge on the presence and distribution of Liberibacter solonacearum and its host psyllids in Scotland and the potential of these organisms to cause and spread disease.