CAP ZERO PHYTO

Project financing:

Total budget: 2 998 024

PSH budget: 945 218,16 ( 875202 sans les frais de gestion)

Financier: Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir (PIA3) et du plan France 2030

Duration: 2021-2027

Digest:

The ability of plants to use their own immune systems to control diseases and pests is at the heart of CAP ZERO PHYTO. The objective is indeed to propose innovative integrated crop protection strategies based on the combined use of immunity levers able to modulate crop defenses. The concept of ecological immunity defined for animals will be adapted: the physio-molecular basis of immune responses will be considered in the broader context of ecology and adaptation, by studying the sources of variability and by characterizing interactions between immunity levers. Apple and tomato will be used as model crops, with their main bioagressors, before transition to other Rosaceae (peach and strawberry) and Solanaceae (peach). Six immunity levers will be investigated individually and in combination: genetic resistance, companion plants, biocontrol solutions exhibiting PRI (plant resistance induction) action, UV-C flashes, mechanical stress and nitrogen supply. The consortium brings together a large panel of experts of crop (UE Horti, PSH, APREL, Invenio, CA06)/pathogens (IRHS, PV)/pests (IGEPP, PSH)/levers (IRHS, IGEPP, PSH, GAFL, PV, Qualisud)/analytical techniques (IRHS, LAE, CEFE) to achieve the objective of the project and will work in consultation with professional stakeholders (CTIFL, GRCETA, APREL) in order to ensure the relevance and feasibility (Granem) of the proposed strategies. It also includes representatives of higher education (IRHS, IGEPP, Granem, Qualisud, ISA, LAE) ensuring the dissemination of results into academic trainings.

To implement the approach adopted, the project is divided into five strongly interacting workpackages.

WP1 will be devoted to the coordination of the project.

WP2 will aim at studying each individual lever to provide a repository describing their effectiveness in controlling the various bioagressors and possible variation factors, their operating characteristics and their modes of action. Deciphering the underlying mechanisms of each lever with transcriptomic, metabolomic and hormonal analyses will allow to predict possible additive effects and to pave the way for the combinations of levers to be tested in WP3. A special effort will be made to analyze the nature and role of plant volatile organic compounds (VOC) for a better understanding of the plant-bioagressor-auxiliary relationships and the role of VOC in plant defense stimulation through plant-plant interactions.

WP3 will focus on the combination of levers to provide tools for the definition of new innovative technical itineraries. It should be noted that sufficient knowledge on some levers is already sufficient to allow considering their combination very early in the project. The strategy to choose combinations will be optimized according to the mechanisms controlled by each lever and their punctual vs permanent implementation. Immunity levers will be progressively combined to detect synergies or antagonisms in controlled conditions and then in production ones. Hypothesis of additive/synergic effects of levers inducing either priming or direct defense elicitation will be tested. System experiments designed during the project as part of WP5 will test the very best combinations of levers in real-life conditions.

WP4 will allow to assess whether the best combinations found in apple and tomato can be transferred to peach, strawberry and pepper, through integrative system experiments.

WP5 is dedicated to discuss and promote alternative protection strategies with/to producers through feasibility analyses, co-conception workshops, and annual meetings bringing scientists, technical advisors and producers together to ease the transition. Technical institutes, experimental stations and grower associations cited above will be strongly associated to this WP. The project will also disseminate results through research with master’s internships, PhD thesis and devoted workshops.

PSH role:

The aim is to propose new crop protection strategies based on the combined use of immune levers designed to modulate crop defence mechanisms. Five immune levers will be explored individually and in combination: genetic resistance, companion plants, biocontrol solutions with PRI (plant resistance inducer) action, UV-C flashes and nitrogen supply. Apple trees and tomatoes will be used as model crops, with their main pests, before transitioning to other Rosaceae (peaches and strawberries) and Solanaceae (peppers).

Project partners:

INRA paca , ur 407 Pathologie Végétale

INRA paca, ur 1052 Génétique et Amélioration des Fruits et Légumes

INRA paca, Umr 1355 Institut Sophia Agrobiotech

Université d’Avignon, umr 95 Qualisud

INRA Pays Val de Loire, Umr 1345 Institut de Recherches en Horticulture et Semences

INRA Pays Val de Loire, Ue Horticulture 34 0449 Unité expérimentale horticole

INRA Nancy, Umr 1121 Laboratoire Agronomie et Environnement

Umr 1349 Institut Génétique, Environnement et Protection des Plantes

Université d’Angers, ur 7546 Groupe de Recherche Angevin en Economie et Management

Umr 5175 Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutiv

Links:

https://www.cultiver-proteger-autrement.fr/les-projets/cap-zero-phyto