Cucak, Mladen and Harteveld, Dalphy O. C. and Wasko DeVetter, Lisa and Peever, Tobin L. and Moral, Rafael de Andrade and Mattupalli, Chakradhar (2022) Development of a Decision Support System for the Management of Mummy Berry Disease in Northwestern Washington. Plants, 11 (2043). pp. 1-20. ISSN 2223-7747

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Abstract

Mummy berry, caused by Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi, is the most important disease of the northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) in North America and can cause up to 70% yield losses in affected fields. A key event in the mummy berry disease cycle is the primary infection phase where ascospores are released by apothecia that infect emerging floral and vegetative tissues. Current management of mummy berry disease in northwestern Washington is predominantly reliant on the prevention of primary infections through prophylactic, calendar-based fungicide spray applications early in the growing season. To improve the understanding of risk during these periods and to help tailor management strategies, we developed a decision support system (DSS) based on field records spanning over five seasons and four locations in northwestern Washington. Environmental conditions across the region were highly uniform but different dynamics of apothecial development were observed under high- and low-management regimes. Based on our analysis, we suggest basing the initial iteration of the DSS on two sub-models. The first sub-model predicts the onset of apothecia based on chill-unit accumulation under high- and low-management regimes, and the second predicts primary infection risk, which provides opportunities to improve the timing of fungicide applications. The synoptic DSS proposed here is based on the current biological knowledge of the pathosystem and available data for the northwestern Washington region. We provide the analysis and the DSS implementation and evaluation as an open-source repository, providing opportunities for further improvements. Finally, we provide suggestions for future research and the operational efforts needed for improving the utility and accuracy of the mummy berry DSS.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi; plant disease forecasting; decision support system; reproducibility; blueberry;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Hamilton Institute
Item ID:	18561
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11152043
Depositing User:	Rafael de Andrade Moral
Date Deposited:	21 May 2024 15:08
Journal or Publication Title:	Plants
Publisher:	MDPI
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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