target spot of tomato

May 12, 2023
UF researchers develop target spot resistant tomatoes

University of Florida researchers may have found the key to developing tomatoes that can resist the catastrophic target spot of tomato disease.

Although it has been around for 50 years, target spot of tomato has become increasingly problematic during the last few years. The disease causes lesions in both leaves and fruits. It’s commonly found in the tropics and the subtropics worldwide.

Tomatoes with target spot disease at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center. Photo: Edgar Sierra, UF/IFAS

Target spot of tomato is caused by a fungus that infects hundreds of types of plants, including other crops like rubber trees, cotton, soybean and cucumbers.

“No current tomato varieties resist the disease, and the only way to control it is through fungicides. However, target spot is increasingly resistant to several common fungicides, which drives us to develop resistant varieties,” Edgar Sierra, who just completed his doctoral dissertation on target spot resistance for the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said in a news release.

Working with his faculty advisors at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, Florida, Sierra used growth rooms to screen tomato seedlings for disease and discover sources of resistance. Then he tested mature plants in the field to understand how useful this resistance may be.

Results from field trials demonstrated that plants with target-spot resistance held up against the disease, even without fungicide sprays.

“We wanted to prove that the resistance identified in seedlings would translate to the mature plants in the field, and that was successful,” Sierra said in the release. “This is very exciting, especially given that it’s difficult to find plants that resist pathogens such as target spot. This is also a very challenging disease because it is very easy to confuse it with other common diseases like bacterial spot or early blight.”

UF University of Florida IFAS logoOne of Sierra’s advisors is Sam Hutton, a UF/IFAS associate professor of horticultural sciences and a tomato breeder at GCREC.

 

“Edgar’s findings are leading to development of the very first commercial varieties with target spot resistance, which should help provide more effective disease control, reduce disease-management costs and reduce pesticide applications,” Hutton said in the release. “More research into the underlying genetics behind this resistance will further improve our ability to develop resistant tomato varieties and may also lead to improved resistance to this disease in other crops.”

Fresh market tomatoes are popular worldwide, and farmers in the southeastern United States produce many of them. In Florida, fresh-market tomatoes bring in $400 million to $500 million annually.

“Together with an integrated disease-management plan, tomato hybrids with this novel resistance will help curb this increasingly relevant problem for tomato growers,” Sierra said in the release.


Tags: ,


Current Issue

Vegetable Growers News November 2024 cover image

Grower profile: Del Jardin Fresh

Research: Cucurbit mesotunnels

GLEXPO preview: Katrina Becker unlocks farm potential by sharing weed control, cover crop insights

Hydroponics: Growing media influences plant health management

Fresh Views: Refreshing your disease management plan

Veg Connections: Soil tarping impacts on soil health and onion production

Farm Market & Agritourism: Marketing mistakes

Ag Labor Review: Elections have consequences

Editor’s letter

 

see all current issue »

Be sure to check out our other specialty agriculture brands

produceprocessingsm Organic Grower