Research

The Department of Plant Pathology houses 23 faculty who address problems of air quality, field crops, forest trees, mushrooms, ornamentals, potatoes, tree fruits, turf, and vegetables.  Basic research areas include molecular, physiological, and genetic studies utilizing cutting-edge techniques to elucidate evolutionary processes in microorganisms, detecting pathogens, and understanding host-pathogen interactions.  Research and development of computer-based decision support systems, ecologically based IPM, and environmental monitoring techniques lead to reduction of pesticide use and increased production efficiency.  Faculty collaborate with entomologists, agronomists, foresters, and horticulturists on germplasm enhancement, vector biology, and fungicide resistance to develop production systems with disease-free plants.

Research strengths of the department are mycology and mushroom science, host-pathogen interactions, ag biosecurity, biological control, and epidemiology and plant protection.

The Department of Plant Pathology contains a comprehensive research, extension, and outreach program in mushroom science, which focuses on solving problems of economic importance to the commercial mushroom industry. Specific projects include the molecular dissection of virus pathogens in the cultivated button mushroom, germplasm enhancement, etiology of diseases of the button mushroom, studies on the physiology, nutrition, and environmental factors affecting mushroom yield and quality, and development of disease and crop management strategies. Plant Pathology faculty provide leadership for other projects involving mushroom substrate preparation, odor control, and uses for spent mushroom substrate. The department houses the international Fusarium Research Center, a unique collection that is the largest cultural collection of the fungal species Fusarium. Research is conducted on understanding Fusarium molecular phylogenetics and systematics, with complementing studies on mycotoxins that focuses on why fungi produce mycotoxins. Other expertise in mycology focuses on Pythium spp., Phytophthora spp., and Verticillium spp., covering research in systematics and population biology.

Research on host-pathogen interactions ranges from genes to ecosystems with a focus on the understanding of how plants resist bacterial and fungal pathogens, the breakdown of plant resistance, and the molecular and cellular basis of pathogenesis/defense.  Model systems used are rice-rice blast, apples-fire blight, and Arabidopsis thaliana–Pseudomonas syringae.

 

Our biological contrl research focuses on using biologicals to manage diseases of cacao, vegetables, tree fruits, grapes, and mushrooms. We also study the biological control of Canadian thistle and Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven), along with the use of green manure cover crops that produce natural compounds that reduce nematode and fungal pathogen populations. 

 

Faculty in agricultural biosecurity have expertise on a number of invasive plant diseases and have responded to plum pox virus, soybean rust, sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum) and bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum). Research collaborations exist with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA), and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS). 

 

Research in epidemiology and plant protection spans disease forecasting, aerobiology, disease resistance, fungicide resistance, disease detection, identifying virus vectors and efficiency of virus transmission, and integrated management of plant diseases. We have an extensive research, extension, and outreach program on tree fruit and turf diseases studying integrated pest management options. A highlight in our aerobiology research program was the prediction of the soybean rust epidemic in the U.S., which we continue to study. Other research areas include studying pathogen detection and elimination techniques in grapes and the development of new varieties and disease resistance in potatoes.