Using cover crops to mitigate vine decline and reduce pathogens in vineyard soils
department or school: Arts and Sciences, Irving K. Barber School of (Okanagan)
department or school: Biology, Department of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Richards, Andrew Eric
issued: 2020-05-19T16:48:07Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Wine grape production is an important economic asset in many nations, however a significant proportion of vines succumb to soil-borne pathogens, reducing yields and causing economic losses. Young vine decline (YVD) occurs when grapevines experience stunted growth, reduced yield, delayed fruiting, and root necrosis, often leading to dieback in vineyards worldwide. These symptoms are largely due to soil-borne fungal pathogens including Ilyonectria species which may be present in the soil or brought to the area by contaminated nursery plants. Restrictions in fungicide use and high-density planting regimes have exacerbated the incidence of YVD in vineyards. Public demand for low-impact sustainable agriculture has encouraged researchers to test alternative approaches to combat soil-borne diseases. Cover crops are plants that are grown alongside main crops or during non-production seasons in order to maintain and enhance soil composition. These plants provide several well known benefits and also may serve as a line of defense against soil-borne fungal pathogens by producing volatile root exudates and/or harbouring suppressive microbes. I tested whether cover crop diversity and provenance affect the persistence and infectivity of YVD pathogens in agricultural soil. In a greenhouse experiment, I inoculated soil with a 106 conidia spore suspension of Ilyonectria liriodendri and then conditioned soil with cover crops for several months to investigate changes in pathogen abundance and fungal communities via Illumina sequencing. After removal of cover crops, Chardonnay cuttings were introduced and grown for a short period to analyse growth responses and disease symptoms. When grown alone, white mustard was the only cover crop associated with reductions in necrotic root damage and abundance of Ilyonectria in Chardonnay roots. The suppressive effects of white mustard largely disappeared when paired with other plants or when grown with all other plants in the high diversity treatm…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/74524
note: USING COVER CROPS TO MITIGATE VINE DECLINE AND REDUCE PATHOGENS IN VINEYARD SOILS by Andrew Eric Richards B.Sc., Dalhousie University, 2014 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Biology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) May 2020 ©Andrew Eric Richards, 2020 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: USING COVER CROPS TO MITIGATE VINE DECLINE AND REDUCE PATHOGENS IN VINEYARD SOILS submitted by Andrew Richards in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science . Miranda Hart, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences Supervisor José Ramón Úrbez-Torres, Adjunct Professor, Summerland Research and Development Centre Supervisory Committee Member Patricia Bowen, Adjunct Professor, Summerland Research and Development Centre Supervisory Committee Member Thomas Lowery, Adjunct Professor, Summerland Research and Development Centre Supervisory Committee Member Ian Walker, Biology, Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences University Examiner Sylvie Desjardins, Department of Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics External Examiner iii Abstract Wine grape production is an important economic asset in many nations, however a significant proportion of vines succumb to soil-borne pathogens, reducing yields and causing economic losses. Young vine decline (YVD) occurs when grapevines experience stunted growth, reduced yield, delayed fruiting, and root necrosis, often leading to dieback in vineyards worldwide. These symptoms are largely due to soil-borne fungal pathogens including Ilyonectria species which may be present in the soil or brought to the area by contaminated nursery plants. Restrictions in fungicide use and high-density planting regimes have exacerbated the incidence of YVD in vineyards. Public demand for low-i…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0390923
language: eng
degree discipline: Biology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/74524