COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 COST 860 SUSVAR Sustainable low-input cereal production: required varietal characteristics and crop diversity Photo: Agroscope RAC Changins

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 WG 3 (soil and plant interactions) 4 participants working on microbial diversity in soil, biocontrol and breeding Expectations to attend workshop: Meeting colleagues to discuss, working together, important presentations and discussions Collaborations in the future Considering STSMs maybe more at the end of the workshop Working Group Meetings

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 WG 4 (plant- plant interactions) 4 participants working on allelopathy Expectations to attend workshop: Meeting colleagues to discuss, working together, exchange ideas, methods etc. Collaborations in the future Possible future collaborations were discussed during the whole meeting. Working Group Meetings

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 WG 5 (plant disease complex) Participants Martin Pastircak, Jozef Gubis, Valerie Cockerell, Marja Jalli, Timothy Paulitz, Hans Pinnschmidt, Susanne Vogelgsang, Mike Cook, Irène Felix, Eckhard Koch xchange ideas, methods etc. Working Group Meetings

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 WG 5 (plant disease complex) 1.Susanne briefed about COST860 (aim, objectives, WG structure, previous meetings and workshops – Tune, DK; Witzenhausen, D) 2.Introduction round including background, expectations, and contributions: - Learn about seed- and soil-borne diseases, within context of genetics, resistance screening and breeding - New technologies for identifications of root and stem diseases ("messy diseases") – possibilities STSM? - Find out more about direct seeding in Europe and take back information e.g. for rating systems for soil- borne pathogens, future collaborations - Exchange of experiences and views with other people, what are common interests - Find ideas for funding of new projects - What are the main seed-borne diseases in Europe - Learn about effects of organic agriculture with respect to seed-borne diseases - Learn more about variety testing, i.e. Tilletia caries - Learn about this COST Action, explore ways to obtain funding Working Group Meetings

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 1 Major findings Beneficial microorganisms manifest a high specifity regarding crops and cultivars The positive effects of beneficial microbes are strongly dependent on environmental conditions, such as soil and climate (biotic and abiotic factors) The occurence of the mycorrhizal symbiosis is rather unspecific, however the functionality is specific Natural disease suppressiveness of soils is consistent over years Great variation of pathogen suppression by single strain application

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 1 Implications for breeding The question, if there is a need for special breeding programs for low-input systems is discussed controversially If EU policy would change towards low-input systems, it would be recommeded Open question: Varities bread under low-input conditions are expected to be better adapted taking profit from beneficial microbes

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 1 Implications for managing practices Managing practices have a high capability to sustain indigenous beneficial microbes Need for optimisation in this respect (e.g.: crop rotation, tillage, green manure, intercrops, fertilisation)

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 1 Implications for inocula use How to stabilise beneficial effects of inoculants, e.g: -Multiple strain inocula (registration) -Crop, soil and substrate specific inocula -Improvement of formulation and inoculation techniques Cost – benefit analysis under different agricultural policies

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 2 Session Soil and Seed-Borne Diseases Presentations/topics covered Epidemiological aspects (spatio-temporal), effect of management practices & environmental interactions Development and use of knowledge tools (threshold levels, modelling of life-cycle and damage relations) Alternative control methods (i.e. physical, natural substances, MOs) Going beyond SUSVAR goals – comparing: European and non-European agro-ecosystems Cereals and other crops

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 2 Session Soil and Seed-Borne Diseases Discussion Question: Why don’t we use chemical seed treatment instead of dealing with seed-borne diseases? – Because it offends the principles of organic farming (e.g. transparency, nearness, carefulness, i.e. side effects on beneficials) Avoid seed-borne problems by development of seed material conventionally and use organic conditions only for production of final material Technological help is needed in further development of alternative seed treatments, e.g. physical methods, plant extracts Look for systems with a certain management history and subject them to various management methods: what type of changes occur? What can be learnt about dynamics of the system, e.g. with respect to soil- borne diseases

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Summing-up, session 3 Allelopathy session : Allelopathy can offer promising alternatives for weed management in low input agriculture. Different ways to exploit allelopathy for weed management (cover crop, ground cover, allelopathic crops,…). Good bioassays are crucial for demonstrating allelopathy, especially to discriminate it from competition. In several cases, the genetic basis of allelopathic capability has been demonstrated (i.e. high broad sense heritability in rice). Interactions with microflora and mycorrhiza should be more investigated.  Exchanges of plant material could be promoted between labs with different bioassay protocols

COST 860 Workshop: Beneficial Below-Ground Interactions, Les Geneveys-sur-Coffrane (NE), CH, 7-9 March 05 Upcoming collaborations STSMs: WG3, WG4 and WG5. Common bunt: evaluate and compare resistance against T. caries in multilocal essai. Allelopathy: Test allelopathic activity in old and modern wheat varieties.