Frost Kenneth E, Groves Russell L, Charkowski Amy O
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Plant Dis. 2013 Oct;97(10):1268-1280. doi: 10.1094/PDIS-05-13-0477-FE.
Long-term data sets are rare in agriculture, and the impact of plant diseases on food production is challenging to measure, which makes it difficult to assess the impact of policy changes or research-based disease control efforts. Despite this challenge, it is clear that one of the largest impacts of biological research on food security over the past century has been in production of vegetatively propagated fruit and vegetable crops such as potato. The yield and quality of these crops is higher in countries that have effective plant propagation and certification systems. Of these systems, seed potato production and certification is among the most developed. We analyzed a dataset from a century-old seed potato certification program in Wisconsin to assess the efficacy for potato disease control and the cost of this program compared to other disease control and potato production costs. We found that over the past century, certification has gradually reduced the incidence of mechanically transmitted vascular potato pathogens that lack insect vectors to undetectable levels, and much of this reduction occurred prior to the use of tissue culture and the development of immunoassays. Rejection of seed lots from certification is now rare, with Potato virus Y (PVY), a virus spread nonpersistently by numerous, noncolonizing aphid species, and farmer errors being the main causes of rejection. PVY level increases occurred in 2000, coincident with the first detection of a new invasive vector, soybean aphid, in the Midwest. The increased PVY incidence was more pronounced in varieties that exhibit mild foliar symptoms. Starting in 2004, a decrease in PVY incidence occurred following comprehensive science-based changes to early generation seed potato production. The cost of the certification program has not increased in two decades, and the fees charged are comparable to those in 1913. The cooperative nature of the seed potato certification program has contributed to its sustainability across generations. However, looming soilborne disease problems are not easily addressed by certification and will likely cause significant challenges in the future.
长期数据集在农业领域较为罕见，而且植物病害对粮食生产的影响难以衡量，这使得评估政策变化或基于研究的病害防控措施的影响变得困难。尽管存在这一挑战，但很明显，过去一个世纪生物学研究对粮食安全的最大影响之一在于无性繁殖的水果和蔬菜作物（如马铃薯）的生产。在拥有有效植物繁殖和认证体系的国家，这些作物的产量和质量更高。在这些体系中，种薯生产和认证是最发达的之一。我们分析了威斯康星州一个有着百年历史的种薯认证项目的数据集，以评估该项目对马铃薯病害的防控效果以及与其他病害防控和马铃薯生产成本相比的项目成本。我们发现，在过去的一个世纪里，认证已逐渐将缺乏昆虫传播媒介的机械传播维管束马铃薯病原体的发生率降低到检测不到的水平，而且这种减少在组织培养的应用和免疫测定技术的发展之前就已大量出现。如今，因认证而拒收种薯批次的情况已很少见，马铃薯Y病毒（PVY）（一种由众多非定居性蚜虫物种非持久性传播的病毒）和农民的失误是拒收的主要原因。2000年出现了PVY水平上升的情况，这与中西部地区首次发现一种新的入侵性传播媒介大豆蚜虫同时发生。在表现出轻微叶片症状的品种中，PVY发病率的上升更为明显。从2004年开始，在对一代种薯生产进行全面的基于科学的变革之后，PVY发病率出现了下降。认证项目的成本在二十年内没有增加，所收取的费用与1913年相当。种薯认证项目的合作性质有助于其代代相传的可持续性。然而，迫在眉睫的土传病害问题不易通过认证解决，未来可能会带来重大挑战。
